The Mekong River

After making the obligated stops along the river to visit various produce, fruit and cake stores (which are quite interesting) we made our way into the tight winding waterways that is the Mekong River.

We pulled up for some lunch at one of the few restaurants on the riverbank which had a pet snake that they allowed you to pat and hold. After lunch we continued to our home stay, traveling further up the river but this time we had to change from our big boat into small two seater local boats as the tide was going out which is quite an amazing thing to see. You could pick a spot on the riverbank or on a tree and you would see the water level drop at an alarming rate. With in 10 seconds it would be almost 15cm lower. It was so peaceful upon the water that I found myself just sitting back trying to think what this would of been like 30 years ago during the war time.

After a full day of travelling & sight seeing we had finally made it to our accommodation on the Mekong. When we arrived we were greeted by our new family and shown to our room. It was a little wooden shack on the river with stretchers and mosquito nets to guard us from those pesky little critters. We soon relaxed back into a hammock to enjoy the peacefulness with an ice-cold beer, a book and a guitar. That night as we all settled into our quite comfortable stretchers it began to rain which made for an easy night sleep.

There's not that much to do down this way except kick back & relax. You definitly wouldn't spend any more than one night on the water thats for sure. It's a nice experience to have but not something that I would go too far out of my way to do again. Keep an eye out for the dozens of rats that run around your room when the lights go off. You can't see them but you can make out the glowing beady eyes as they dart back & forth looking for food.