Can Tho

Cruising the mighty Mekong

A chartered boat slowly takes us down the Mekong from Phnom Penh into Việt Nam. Việt Nam or “the Việt people of the south” means the people south of China, thus distancing themselves from the Chinese.

The Mekong is much as I expected: wide, brown, vegetation along the sides with large clumps of water hiyanths scattered in the waterway. There is some industry within sight and a new Japanese bridge being built linking villages on opposite banks. Crops of corn, livestock, temples, shanties with their water hose dipping into the river, some new concrete homes of the prosperous, old fishing boats, a few sand barges, and fish farms. I see little traffic to detract from the tranquility of the river.
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