#15 - Boat Ride!

Floating Down the Mekong - OR - Is it really a boat ride if the boat’s not rocking?

So how lazy can you get on a slow boat to Vietnam? So lazy that Steve has not been doing much, if any, blogging in our five days aboard ship. Now in all fairness, internet has been spotty and uploading even one photo can be a fifteen minute exercise in frustration. But last night was our first Anchorage in Vietnam and immediately we can see it is more developed with good WiFi. So, at Steve’s request, I have been assigned to share our week aboard the Jayavaram, boarding near Siem Reap, floating through Tonle Sap Lake ( This lake is one of the most unique ecological water wonders in the world. It is the largest lake in South East Asia and changes in size and dimension every wet season), floating villages, shore excursions, lovely cabins, too much food and alcohol and a small but very nice group of fellow passengers. 

Our ship, The Jayavarman 

But a flat bottomed boat on a smooth river just doesn’t move much either side to side or bow to stern so it’s more a floating hotel. I do miss the feel of being rocked to sleep or not knowing if, after three glasses of wine, it is the boat or me rocking. But on the upside, once we are in Saigon, I will immediately have my land-legs and won’t be still rocking for another week.

First the ship. It has about 25 cabins but for our week afloat, only 10 passengers with 40 staff, so it’s more like a private yatch. Everyone is somewhere in our age bracket. There is a couple from Hunter Valley (about two hours from Sydney, Australia), a couple from near Buenos Aires, a single woman from Switzerland, a single man from England, and another couple from England, Richard and Dick, who disembarked in Phnom Penh. As usual, everyone is incredibly well traveled (putting us to shame), friendly, and there is easy conversation at meals or at cocktails, where we are all together. 

The boat itself is quite luxurious. The cabins all have balconies and large sliding doors. The bathrooms are larger than some hotels I have stayed in or perhaps even some I have had in my own homes. The A/C is cold, the nightly turn down service almost always includes a small gift such as a straw hat for excursions or a silk scarf, and the staff treats us like royalty, literally. You cannot sit down without your seat being pulled out, your napkin placed on your lap, or your preferred beverage set in front of you. The decor is so very colonial Indochina with wicker chairs, teak floors, wooden cushioned daybeds, potted palms and even a small swimming pool on the top deck (well, maybe a large jetted tub would be a more accurate description, but it is cool, and refreshing nonetheless). 

Our first few days we cruised in Cambodia with interesting excursions every AM and PM. We have ridden in buses, tuk-tuks, pedicabs, and oxcarts. We have visited villages, schools, palm sugar harvesters ( actually one man, 67 years old, with 15 trees he climbs everyday) and a silk farm. 

We have toured Phnom Penh for a day to see the palace, the temple and of course, the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum bringing us, yet again, face to face with the atrocities of a madman against small unempowered villagers who submit to humiliation and torture with their hands bound only with the smallest of ropes. While we expected to be moved at the Killing Fields, as the story of Pol Pot is so horrific,  the experience there is not well done or well curated. However, afterwards, we went to the Genocide museum, housed in the main Khmer Rouge prison. Here we saw the conditions of the prisoners and the photos of many who were processed through here. Apparently, as masochistic leaders do, they kept meticulous records of everyone killed, photos with numbers, names, etc. .....remind you of anyone else? Guess this guy was an admirer of the Nazis. There we also had the opportunity to meet one of only seven survivors when the prison was ‘liberated’ by the Vietnamese. He was 9 and his brother was 7 and they had photos of them on the day Pol Pot was defeated. He recalls much, but not all, of his experience and he is now one of only survivors still alive. 

Most of our staff on the Jayavaram are Cambodian and they are the kindest, most gentle, lovely people. Our favorite is Moni, always with the biggest smile, a little joke and thrilled to pamper each of us. While the boat is not large, it does have a small two room spa with an incredible masseuse. And since there are only ten of us, booking an hour massage is easy. Laek has skilled hands and lemongrass oil and although it was not very Zen yesterday to have the anchor lifted just outside the spa door as we motored away, the effects of her gently pummeling my body was still wonderful. 

Already we can see that Vietnam is far more developed than Cambodia. We have already passed large warehouses of rice and there is much more river traffic. Last night anchored off the town we will visit this morning, music from the local disco reached our decks, and what are cargo vessels but look like pirate ships are anchored by the dock. Lots more noise and hopefully lots more exciting things to see and do in our last two days floating down the Mekong. 

And now we have just returned from a short morning excursion in a Mekong town of 150,000. The central market is large and clean. The fish are mostly sold live, swimming in large but shallow metal pans interconnected with plastic tubes circulating fresh water. And live fish are fish that do not smell! Or have flies!  There were many fruits I have never seen and still don’t have any idea what they are because virtually no one spoke English. Many young children, maybe ages 7-10, sell lottery tickets because already they have stopped going to school to help support their families, which seemed surprising compared to Cambodia where most children, even in the village, finish primary school, at least. 

We had a pedicab ride through the town, where bicycles account for about 60% of the traffic, motor bikes another 37% and cars are maybe 3%. The town is very middle class with lots of shops and modern clothing but also lots of coolie hats. There are bahn mi stands  and pho kiosks and large mobile carts pulled by old women selling everything from fruit to fish to clothes. So though it is much like Laos or Cambodia, here is the difference. In Cambodia the owners of fighting cocks keep them in large rattan cages...in Vietnam, they have graduated to metal ones!

Last stop. A large nine-house fish farm where each of the nine houses holds 150,000 tilapia and bass fish, all growing larger to be sold wholesale for export for $1.50 a kilo or about $0.70 a pound, certainly a lot less than we pay.

Our new guide for Vietnam seems great, knowledgeable and so easy to follow. I think Tri (Tree) will provide us with a couple of great last days on the Mekong. Signing off for now so maybe Steve can get in some photos before we again lose the internet.