In the minibus coming back from the River Kwae were A. and R., two
Brisbanites. "I thought you were foreign so I was speaking to you
really slowly", said A., on discovering I was also Australian - the peril of
being half-Japanese, I guess.
She was in Banking - two weeks promoted and on holiday already
(her application had, of course, been in for months); her friend was
studying "Laboratory Medicine".
... "As in pathology?"
"Yes" - and she wanted to specialise in "Cytology"
So I took a stab at "Cells?" - correctly - she said that people
normally thought she meant Scientology, which has apparently produced
some highly original - though not widely accepted - research into cell
composition.
They were going to the Damonoen Saduak floating market. I'd heard
of the one in Bangkok (though I never got around to seeing it), but
apparently this one was more authentic. Floating markets are best
early in the day, and as it was over an hour's ride from Bangkok they
hopped out on the way so as to reduce travelling time.
Having skipped the markets in Thailand, it wasn't until Vietnam
that I saw a couple in the lower Mekong Delta. My expectation
was that they were accessible by foot; the Thai ones, being a bit
tourist-oriented, are. These ones, however, were only reachable by boat.
Cabinned boats are anchored on the river, each with a long pole on
which are tied a sample of available fruits and vegetables:
pineapples, pumpkins, tapioca, melons, carrots, etc. Its customers are
locals in small river craft, who leave laden with produce for resale
back on land.
At this point of the lower Delta, the Mekong has split into
distributaries flowing out to the South China Sea, and crisscrossing channels split island from
island. There are longtail boats, but also unmotorised ones which are rowed with long crossed oars while standing. Convoys of barges, both motorised and
tug-pushed, transport hillocks of soil. Many boats
sail red-faced with black-and-white eyes painted on their prows to
ensure safe journeys. The islands
of the delta are home to cottage industries, some of which we visited
over the course of the two day tour - a rice-noodle "factory", a honey
farm, a coconut candy factory, and a fruit farm providing samples of their products.
Earlier this month - date unknown - I made the eight hour
journey from Siem Riep to Battambattang, pronounced "Battambong",
across the northern part of the lake Tonle Sap. It's wet season, so
the flooding Mekong has pushed a water and fish up the Tonle
Sap river into the lake and surrounding rivers. Even being wet season, it still took 8
hours for our pilot to scrape our overcrowded vessel upstream - if
you're lucky it's supposed to take half the time. The region is home to a
floating village, a moveable tourist attraction, as well other
collections of houseboats that line banks along the way. I only stayed
the night in Battambatang - a snap decision that having spent a week in
Siem Reap, I was templed out. I was on the Phnom Penh bus the next
morning.
