Traveling the Mekong
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2007
1
68
82
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Champasak,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Friday, August 8, 2008
I wanted to see the ruins, that were once a part of Angkor, that sat a top a hill and terraced to two pools below. Grudgingly the group that had now become 7 with the meeting of Doug and Curtis's bunk mate Dan, got into a tuk tuk mid day and we were hulled off to the site. It was beautiful. You walked along a sun parched path that led you to a terraced hill. Walking up the steep stone steps you came upon a tree covered temple. Everything was dismembered but there was a view and a sense of time surrounding the site. Rocks were pieces of large temples, covered in design and reservoirs below were fed by springs above once used to irrigate the land as well as cleanse and bath the royalty
Along the Mekong
. After about an hour or two walking around, we returned to our rooms for a celebration. Pepign was turning 31. We bought expensive whisky that turned out to be 3 times the price it should have been and played poker. We invited more to join and had a party of 10 before the night was over. The breeze was strong and everyone was laughing. Luckily we started early and made it to bed before 12am. The next morning we had a boat to catch. 4 hours down the river we rode, watching the villages go by and the canoes struggle past. The valley was clear in front of us and the mountains of Cambodia loomed to the south of us. We made it to Don Kong, the most populated island of the 4,000 islands, just in time to find a room and settle in before the rain came.
Tom and I decided to stay on for an extra day and were joined by Natasha, Curtis and Pepign. We rented bikes and treked around the island, eating some fantastic soup, getting dirty on a rice patty path and exhausted when a bike tire went flat. The island was green in the middle, covered in rice fields and surrounded by the reddish brown Mekong. Villages and houses on stilts dotted our way, we waved as we passed and enjoyed the bright blue sky. It had been days since we had seen the sun, luckily after that nights rain we spent 5 sunny days on the river. Island life is island life no matter what body of water you find yourself in.
