Mekong Reflections

Cruising the Mekong reveals tantalising glimpses into the complex cultures of Vietnam and Cambodia, finds Sally Macmillan.

A Mekong river cruise between Vietnam and Cambodia is a study in extremes and contrasts – between elaborate, ancient temples and profound rural poverty; bustling cities and peaceful villages; heartbreaking history and some of the friendliest people you will ever meet.

Starting in Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it’s still called, our two-hour bus ride to My Tho, where we board Scenic Spirit, takes us past dusty roadside cafes where people lie in hammocks to escape the heat, new government buildings across the highway from crumbling shacks, and shrines surrounded by rice paddies.

The gleaming white exterior of the brand new Scenic Star stands out against the broad, brown waterway where it’s moored amid brightly painted cargo vessels. It’s carrying almost its full complement of 68 passengers, from Australia and the UK, and many are repeat Scenic cruisers. First stop is the pool on Deck 3, an unusually large one for a river ship.

We enjoy cocktails on the shaded top deck, then as the sun sinks below the horizon, the ship sets off for Cai Be, where we board sampans early the next day to visit the floating market.

After motoring past hundreds of boats loaded with fruit and vegetables, guide Toan takes us through a riverside village built on stilts. Local people wave and smile, schoolchildren speed by on bikes twice their size and we visit a streetfront weaver and  a busy workshop where a woman demonstrates how to make rice-paper. Some of us knock back a glass of traditional snake wine – strong stuff, particularly before lunch.

The afternoon is spent wandering around the market at Sa Dec, a town  a little further up river. Here are  frogs (skinned but still twitching), eels, snails, prawns and all types of seafood. Sa Dec is the setting of French writer Marguerite Duras’ novel The Lover, which was made into a movie in 1992. We visit Huynh Thuy Le Ancient House, the French Colonial home of the real-life Chinese lover in the story and it’s fascinating to see family photos and stills from the film hanging in the entrance hall.

Tours to a floating fish farm and Cham village, a small Muslim community, make for a busy morning, with cameras going into overdrive. We have a quick stop at a riverside hotel for a reviving ca phe da (Vietnamese iced coffee) and then we’re whisked off by cyclo (pedicab) for a ride around the attractive town of Chau Doc.

As we cruise towards Phnom Penh in Cambodia, which takes a day,  we are given an informal lesson on Cambodia’s long, illustrious and  often troubled history. We learn a whole lot more the next day when we go to the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. It is a moving, chilling experience; a Buddhist stupa houses the skulls  and bones of thousands of victims  of the Pol Pot regime, and human  bone fragments still emerge from the mass grave site. 

The following day brings a change  of pace as we board ox-carts for a hilarious bumpy ride through villages and rice paddies to Wat Kampong Tralach. From there we take a bus to Oudong, the capital of Cambodia from 1618 until 1866. Now it is a complex of Buddhist monasteries, temples and meditation centres. We wander around the lovely grounds among white-clad nuns and saffron-robed monks, and receive a blessing from a monk in a cool, dark temple that’s dominated by an imposing Buddha statue.

For those who aren’t “templed out”, there are tours the next day to Phnom Pros and Wat Nokor Bachey, the latter a 12th-century temple described by  our guide as a “mini Angkor Wat”.  We then visit one of my favourite places on the trip, a Khmer eco-village called Cheung Kok, where children chase us along sandy streets and nobody can resist buying silk and cotton kramas (scarfs) when we’ve  just seen them being hand-woven.

Many cruises have an extra two  or three days in Cambodia to explore the glories of Angkor Wat, but we only have time for a flying visit to beautiful Siem Reap, where we enjoy a Cambodian feast for lunch at Malis (the best restaurant on the tour) and  a quick guided tour around the main temple. My lasting impression is of  a country and people that are beautiful, resilient and forward-looking – our tourist dollars are much needed. 

SHIP FACTS

Scenic Spirit takes a maximum of 68 guests in 34 suites which range in size from 32 to 80 square metres. Facilities include two dining venues  
(the main Crystal Dining Room and River Café), swimming pool, beauty salon, sauna and gym, self-service launderette and elevator. 

BOOKINGS

Scenic operates several Mekong land/cruise trips. Fares for the eight-day Luxury Mekong cruise start from $2995 and earlybird deals are available for 2017 itineraries; the 13-day Treasures of the Mekong cruise starts from $5645 with free return flights. Visas are required for Vietnam and Cambodia – check with Scenic or your travel agent. Phone 138 128, or visit scenic.com.au.