Victoria's insights and travel

Ok I've got half an hour before the monks start chanting...and if I don't go to the temple before i leave here I will be forever  regretful of it. Earlier today I sat by the Mekong, where it is met by one of it's tributaries the Num Cum...( I spent three hours kayaking down it yesterday...more later) There's a bamboo bridge that spans the water. It is held together with twine and and woven bamboo...you have to buy a ticket to cross ($4... which is quite acceptable but a little steep I think...as this town runs on tourism). The water is fast and muddy. There are big bolders on either side  and plenty of sand banks and shallow areas. The muddy banks are covered with neatly oraganised vegetable gardens. It's a perfect meeting place. There were children laughing and screaming and teenages whooping as the water pulled them along and on and off the rocks. But mostly i was aware of all the young monks in their orange robes sitting , talking laughing and joking with each other. I sat close by and when one group of novice monks left...one remained to talk with me. His smile stretched across his face . He spoke , as most Loa do, in a very soft and humble manner. He lived in the temple with 9 other novices and three monks on this side (non town side) of the river. It is saturady so they were not at school. he had not seen his family since he was thirteen...but will see them again when he is twenty...he missed them very much. We laughed together at his mate monk who was down by the river having a cigarette....very bad! These are the precious moments that make travelling such a joy.!