Ever North up the Mekong: Final Days in Cambodia
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005After my evening in the town of Kratie, I was well rested and ready to hit the road again. Or rather, the water, as I my route headed still further up the Mekong river to the town of Stung Treng in the far north of Cambodia.
I’d been a bit nervous with my first boat trip up this river, and had decided to sit inside the boat, but this time I made straight for the roof, where I was joined by all of the other foreigners making the trip.
The boat ride was wonderfully smooth. As the Mekong slid by, I read, stared at the banks, laid in the sun and wind and spent a lot of time grinning at the wonderfulness of just BEING THERE.
As the boat sped on up the river, (40 or 50km/h perhaps) the settlements on either side changed from continuous houses to occaisional villages to single shacks dotted along the banks. In the river itself, concrete markers appeared, rising out of the water to mark the edges of the safe shipping channel. There were times that the markers led us upstream, then downstream for a kilometre or so then back north up the river, making a sort of N shape. This made for a longer (though more fun) ride in the afternoon sun.
Finally a town of some size appeared, heralded by a water tower and a telecommunications tower (and some people say they’re eyesores…)
The boat pulled up alongside the pier, and I hopped off with my pack. I was in Stung Treng, last stop north for public transit in Cambodia.
[read on]
Llew