From Siem Reap it was a five-hour drive to where we joined our ship. The drive was not too bad. The coach was comfortable with just three seats to a row. We had a couple of stops on the way where we could visit “Happy rooms”. Our guide talked for a while but there is only so much you can say about rice fields. Eventually, we arrived in Kampong Cham where we were introduced to the Mekong Princess. This is a custom built luxury river boat. Two passenger decks. A bar. A restaurant and cabins for 30 people. At the mandatory safety briefing in the bar, we discovered that there were only 10 of us for this trip. The ship is run by Eric. He is French and has been doing this job for a decade or so. Friendly and informative. Once everything safety related had been explained the ship set sail and we all went for lunch.
We had been given a free upgrade. Presumably because there were so few people on board. So, we had a lovely room near the front of the ship. It was decked out like a luxury French chateau. We are quite used to living in cabins but this was hugely different to a sea-going ship. Much more like a floating hotel room. At sea, you need to protect from the movement of the ship. Not on a river boat. Here nothing was fastened down. There were pot plants on shelves and free-standing bottles on a desk. Things that would not last two minutes at sea. It was all very comfortable so we got settled in and enjoyed watching the countryside slide past.
By 5pm, we had arrived at Angkor Ban, our first stop. We were tied up by some sort of temple. There was not much to see and I don’t think we even had an option to go ashore. We were given a talk about what to expect the following day after which came diner and then bed. We were going to be up at 6am.
6am was the theme for the week. Up at 6am and out by 8am. It makes sense when the weather is so hot. Next day we started off with a blessing. A water blessing from a Buddhist monk in the temple that we were moored next to. It was quite fun although none of us had a clue about what was said and chanted. We each had water flicked on us. I made sure to keep my mouth shut. Then the monk tied a red plaited woollen string tied around the wrist of those that wanted it.
Suitably blessed we went off for a guided tour of the village. Naturally this brought us to the first carpet shop. Remember the carpet shop principle? We discovered in Morrocco that if you ever got shown anywhere you would always end up in a carpet shop drinking mint tea. Elsewhere, it might not be carpets. It might be jewellery, souvenirs, hats, whatever. It will however be made for tourists and presented to you as authentic if a little overpriced. In the village of Angkor Ban the carpet shops sold clothing. Lightweight cotton shirts, trousers and scarves. Many houses had rolled out a small rack containing their goods. The material was woven and dyed in the village. I think it was mostly cotton, which I assume came in from elsewhere. I did not see any bales of raw cotton, just large loops of yarn. We were shown a small group of people busy dying the yarn. There were also some looms set up for weaving.
We arrived at a school. Education is a bit of a haphazard affair in Cambodia. Especially out in the country away from the cities. Here we were introduced to the teacher who set up and ran the school. We also met the twenty or so students. Everything seemed to operate on a voluntary basis. The teacher was not paid very much. The students could not afford to pay much. Conditions were a bit rudimentary but they were giving it a go. Despite the general level of poverty, it appeared to be well understood that the solution to many of their problems was to educate the children. The kids were all very friendly and very keen to practise their English. Each tourist was allocated two or three children and everyone settled down in the classroom to work on their English.
I am really not particularly good at this sort of thing. Far too self-conscious around small children and haven’t a clue where to start when it comes to teaching. I took it on myself to make a photographic record of the lesson for the benefit of the other. Then I went off and found a hummingbird to photograph. This turned out to be an olive-backed sunbird.
An hour or so later, we were all waving goodbye to the school and we continued our tour of the village. There was a covered area used as a market. Here the fresh fruit, vegetables and other produce for the day was on display. Across the road was a petrol station. Most people here either walk or cycle. Motorised transport is predominantly in the form of scooters. One per family. You rarely see more than the parents and three children on a single scooter. The petrol station was set up to just service scooters. Petrol came in re-purposed one litre glass bottles displayed on a rack and kept out of the sunshine.
Running around the houses were several types of duck and goose. I also spotted some caged birds. There was a Myna bird. Commonly kept as pets because of their ability to mimic an extraordinarily wide range of sounds. There was also some sort of hawk which seemed thoroughly unhappy in a cage that was far too small. Keeping this sort of bird is illegal in most countries. Google tells me: It is generally illegal to keep a caged hawk in Vietnam. Nearly all native birds of prey, including hawks, eagles, and falcons, are protected under Vietnamese wildlife conservation laws and international CITES agreements. Keeping them without specialized government permits—which are virtually never granted to private pet owners—violates national regulations and risks severe fines or criminal penalties.
We were all back on board by lunchtime when we set sail for Phnom Penh.