By Matthew Smith
Leaving late from Phnom Penh was a touch sad because it signaled the end of a major leg of the expedition. The night before we were both invited to Sanghi's, our tuk tuk driver's, house for dinner. The dinner was a great opportunity to participate in a part of Cambodian culture that was new to us.
South of Phnom Penh on the Cambodian side of the border was classic rural Cambodian country side that we have become accustomed to. However, what was a surprise to me was the apparent change in hospitality. So far the notorious Cambodian hospitality was proven to us many times, but now the people were friendly with a new boldness. The first night out on the river two fisherman pulled up to our camp and shared their dinner with us. Garrett and I have become skilled at the wordless conversation and we "talked" with them about our expedition.
This would not be the only gesture of hospitality on this stretch of river. The next day while walking around a village to find a place to teach, an old farmer called us to his house to give us food and show us how he picked an interesting purple fruit with a bamboo pole and a hoop with a bag. He also gave us sticky dough wrapped around a mixture of peanuts and sugar wrapped in a large leaf. Also, he gave us bananas and a pot of tea.
That night when we set up camp we had to excavate our sleeping area out of the sandy bank. The AquaBound paddles doubled as an effective sand shovel. Again the next morning a farmer and his baby daughter would pull up in there boat to cook Cambodian style green beans, which we were invited to pick, over coals.
Soon we approached the Vietnamese border for a possibly tricky crossing into the country still hoisting communist flags. However, it turned out that the crossing was easier than crossing the Canadian/U.S border coming back to the US.
From that point on into the Delta on the Vietnamese side, we encountered more of the same invites. Dining and drinking invitations were so frequent that we had to get used to turning most down so that we could actually make progress that day.
The first town we came to, Phu Chau was again a different feel. The town felt like a small city almost, yet with a all the staring it felt similar to the villages we had been to before where no foreigners went. In the town we were so conspicuous that four Vietnamese military personal visited our hotel to see our passports.
The river has changed. As the mighty Mekong splits into the so called "nine dragons" there is at many points an industrial presence. There are large factories and massive floating platforms supporting cranes which send massive shovels to the river bottom for dredging. In addition there is now a presence of large ocean worthy vessels traveling up river with high sides and massive payloads. Each ship, vessel and fishing boat is painted at the bow or stern with big colorful eyes. Amongst the large ocean rigs and factories are river islands and fertile banks where people live in a rural way.
Garrett while in Phnom Penh found a Vietnamese translator to create a new CPR video for the section in Vietnam. The video had to be made anew with the simplifications we added and a totally new language. However, one of the noticeable differences about the Delta is the receptiveness towards the classes. In Vietnam there is a large social barrier in the way when we try to teach classes so far. The first class we tried to teach was at first well received but after the introduction on the video the participants wanted nothing to do with it. Cambodia was much easier for teaching.
Along the expedition we are used to continually answering back along the banks "hello" or answering "U.S.A" in response to "where are you from?" However, this time when asked in clear English "where are you from?" After responding in the usual way, we heard "me too!" which in this part of the world is uncommon. It turned out the voice that called back to us belonged to a U.S. veteran who was stationed in Vietnam across the river from where we met him. He was married to a Vietnamese woman from the island and they spent most of their time in Maryland but traveled to Vietnam annually. They said we were the first white people they had ever seen there.
After we stealth camped (see Struggle in the Dark) on the same date we met the American, we got up well before sunrise to paddle. At about mid day the wind picked up and was blowing down river. We pulled out the WindPaddle sail and cruised down stream at a 9km average. Because of the WindPaddle it was a breeze getting to the next town of Sa Dec.
Sa Dec was like Phu Chau, in that we got plenty of stares. However once in awhile I would see a foreigner. Garrett saw a cock fight on the way to the hotel. We're not in Kansas anymore. Also Garrett and I have discovered Vietnamese coffee and the method to drinking it. Standard is a glass full of ice and a shot glass with a coffee drip over top. After 5mins of dropping the shot glass is mixed in with the ice. I guess, when in Rome.
Paddling expeditions are different than the typical mountain expedition. Rivers are a resource that humans have used since recorded history, and therefore rivers eventually get more populated. Paddling as far as we have and coming from a remote tributary we are beginning to definitely notice an increase in people. This is also signaling the beginning of the end of our expedition.