Floating life

WE ARE a novelty. The highlight in their day, their week or month. We hear their squeals of delight from the riverbank and gladly return their high-pitched "hello" and frantic waves. They are the young Cambodian and Vietnamese children, curious to make a connection with the "odd-looking" mostly Western tourists aboard the unusual large vessel gliding up the river and into their everyday lives. They want nothing but a smile, an acknowledgement. They are sometimes joined by mothers, fathers, grandparents or older siblings, and the odd dog, chook or cow. The RV Mekong Pandaw has become a regular sight on the waterways, with her Classic Mekong upstream cruise and coach tour from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam or downstream return voyage from Siem Reap, Cambodia. Over the 250km journey, passengers can always count on the greetings from these cherubs as we spend three, four or seven nights on the Mekong and Tonle rivers, canals and backwaters, peering into their backyards and fields, and visiting their villages. With the help of local guides and crew, we learn much more than travel books, textbooks or websites could ever provide on these grassroots people and their history, religions, industries and commerce, their struggles and challenges and, in too many cases, their abject poverty. It is an eye-opener, to say the least. Our excursions take us to industrious floating villages including a basa (catfish) farm where iceboxes, battery power and boiled water are the norm for many of the poor who spend their lives on the water. Beautifully woven scarves and tablecloths and handmade jewellery and snacks are among the delights at a Cham (Muslim) tribal village where we gatecrash a lively goal-kicking contest among teenage boys.

Floating house

They go to school

wood for cooking

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