Day on the Mekong

Yesterday we spent the day traveling around the Mekong River by boat or should I saw several boats.  We began our travels at 4:30 AM, we had to beat the traffic out of town.  There were six of us including our young 25 year old driver who has been driving for our friends furniture company for five years.  He was great and got us there and back in one piece after going around three accidents that we came across during the day.  Normal for this country.  We stopped in a town where our friend had been born and had a breakfast of barbeque pork and rice and the strong iced coffee with milk.  Dinner for breakfast.  We were looking for an area of town that we had never been to before so we took a few wrong turns but ended up at a cafe near the water where we were met by another man that took us to a very small canoe type boat.  I wondered if we would all fit which turned out not to be a problem except we were pretty low in the water. There were six adults in our group.  We had two young kids paddel us down the water and by the time we got there they were really exhausted.  We gave them a big tip for their efforts. Of course there was not a cloud in the sky, it is rainy season but it was a very warm, cloudless day.  Our navigator gave two of us floppy hats to wear but that did not help our exposed arms.  We arrived at his house and met his wife and several of his five children.  One of our boat paddlers was his son who dropped out of school to help support his family.  This is very common.  The Mekong area is very poor and the people litterally make their living from the water, as well as bath, wash and play in it. We were told that the fish are becoming scarce because of all the fishing and there is not much else to make a living from. We made five other stops along the river and talked to many people who shared stories of their lives on the river.  These are amazing people who desire to work and make money to support themselves but the opportunities are few. I know there are many places in the world like this but when you walk amoung them it is hard not to be touched by them.  That is our Father's heart.  Well it was four by the time we got back to the dock or should I say side of the hill that we began our journey on and as we walked back to our car Mark saw a cafe that had two cages of snakes.  He has always liked the exotic and stange things that I do not and so he called me over to bring the camera so he could take some pictures.  I guess you could pick out the one you wanted and they would fry it up for you.  No thanks.  We had a friend with us last week who was served dog on one of his trips.  That is something else I do not care to experience.  I have had some strange things but there are some limits I have.

I had a few driving observations from the trip.  There is a new freeway that just opened and it cuts off a lot of time getting out of the city.  It was two lanes on each side and the big surprise no motorbikes allowed.  Trucks, buses and cars were ok.  I guess it does not matter what you drive they still straddle that line and pass each other, usually on the right side and do a lot of honking.  This lets the other vehicle know that you are coming or going to pass them.  They also keep their bright lights on and when they want someone to move they flash them until they do.  You have to experience it.   They also have something like speed bumps on each side of a bridge which causes most drivers to slow down.  Notice I said most.  Our driver was very tall so his head almost touched the ceiling of the car so we took these bumps lightly.  My bladder thanks him for that.  Oh I almost forgot.  We were making a restroom break after our first visit and we were back at the cafe, I followed my friend back and when it was my turn she warned me there was no toilet or whole or anything.  You just squat behind the curtain and then there was a bucket to wash the cement down with afterwards.  I still think men have it way to easy.