Headed for a boat trip down the river today. First stop was a man made canal which acted as the temporary border between Vietnam & Cambodia. I didn't get to step foot on Cambodian soil but we came close!We visited a fish farm which was a house floating on the water with nets to keep the fish under the house and holes in the floor to feed them. Sorry Dad, I'm not sure what sort of fish they were. They move the fish farms too, we saw a couple of boats pulling a house with a few guys in the water helping to make sure it didn't hit anything.
Visited a local Cham village, a miniority group. After crossing a rickety bridge we visited a local weaver who made beautiful scarves & head bands. The kids here are a little more cheeky and try and sell you food, then if you buy any they say they're hungry & haven't eaten in days so you give it to them but they just resell it again. A very smart little scam.In the afternoon we headed out for a motorbike ride around the area. It was amazing. You remember what I said about the roads in Vietnam, and the chaos and the honking? Now try and imagine that from the back of a motorbike. It's exhilirating! We didn't drive ourselves, we each had a local Vietnamese driver who knew the roads and the way to drive. Our drivers made a bit of a competition out of it, always fighting to be at the front and honking lots to be cheeky. Our tour leader was at the front though and they weren't allowed to pass him so they couldn't go too fast.
Saw lots of rice paddies (including people burning them), 2 million dollar mountain (the US spent 2 mil trying to kill the Viet Cong from the mountain with no luck), sugar palm & cashew trees.We visited Ba Chuc, a village next to the Cambodian border which was wiped out on April 18, 1978 by the Kymer Rouge (from Cambodia). 3,157 people were killed, only 3 survived. It was an incredibly devastating story. We visited one of the three survivors, she still lives there and runs a drink stop. Her husband & six children were all killed in front of her. She's in her mid 60s now. It was sheer luck she survived herself as she was shot in the neck. We went to the shrine they had, a glass case containing all the skulls of the dead ordered by age. The amount of children and babies was disturbing. I didn't take a photo as it seemed disrespectful and I know the image will stay with me for a long time. We said a pray with incense sticks before we left, as the Vietnamese believe the dead will help your prayer and help protect your loved ones.
Final stop was Sam Mountain that overlooks both Vietnam & Cambodia where we watched the sunset. Sadly not much of a sunset as there was a heavy haze blanketing the countryside. The ride back was a lot of fun and I'm starting to think I'd really like to get a motorbike! :)
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