If you’re following this trip, the one constant theme is the heat and humidity we experienced. No exaggeration – I've never sweated more! However, we faced the opposite situation on the ship. Our cabin’s air conditioning only seemed to work in two extremes – either off or arctic-blast freezing! You can guess where it stayed for the duration. We would walk in and immediately breathe a sigh of relief at the cold air hitting our sweaty selves…for about 20 minutes. And then we’d grab the only long-sleeved item we packed for additional cover. It’s a wonder we didn’t end up sick.
Our fantastically working AC also posed a problem for my camera. The minute I walked outside, ready to capture each day’s memories, my camera base and lens would be fogged entirely due to the extreme variances in temps. It would take around 20 minutes each time I went outside for my camera to warm up and operate normally. An endless frustration for someone who already struggles with patience!
We had one of the best experiences of our entire trip this morning while visiting the small village of Angkor Ban. The village was celebrating Kathen, a Buddhist celebration that marks the end of the rainy season and serves as a charity offering to the Buddhist monks and pagoda. Locals believe they will receive good karma and merits by offering gifts to the monks and pagoda.
The highlight of our morning was our visit to a small, open air school where children are taught English lessons daily. We joined their class and took part in their daily lessons. In addition to having them recite English sentences, we also participated in a question and answer session with students eagerly volunteering to ask us questions in English. Students ranged in ages from pre-school to teenagers; regardless of their age, they were so enthusiastic and focused on learning our language. The teacher volunteers his time daily to teach the village children English.
We also visited a house on stilts - the traditional style home for this village. The raised house provides protection from the muddy, flooding season. Most of these houses have slatted bamboo floors, allowing better air circulation in their hottest season.
After walking back through the village and taking in the sights and sounds of their Kathen celebration, we made our way back to our boat.
Our last afternoon on the Mekong was spent at Wat Hanchey, a temple community of Buddhist monks. The oldest part of the complex dates from the 7th century, with an ancient brick temple that was once used to worship the Hindu god Hirahara. It still stands adjacent to other Buddhist temples on the property, and is a reminder of the past and present religions of this Cambodian complex.
We participated in a prayer and received a water blessing from three Buddhist monks and then visited other buildings on their large complex, which sits high above the river with sweeping views of the valley and water below.
Back aboard our ship, we enjoyed a farewell celebration with our wonderful crew. Dressed in beautiful formal attire, they performed several traditional dances, and then finished with a few classic hits, including ABBA’s Dancing Queen. It ended with most of us on the dance floor celebrating our cruise with this fantastic crew. A lovely end to an incredible trip on this storied river.
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