In January Dale and I traveled to Southeast Asia for three weeks. The centerpiece of the trip was a National Geographic Mekong River Cruise to Vietnam and Cambodia.
It was poignant to return to Saigon 45 years after my tour of duty during the Vietnam War. The city is vibrant and moving quickly toward a western style market economy, albeit under the hand of a communist government. It was a pleasure to see some familiar sights – the beautiful women in their ao dais, the tree lined streets, the hustle and bustle, etc.
We then drove to My Tho to board our cruise boat, the Jahan, a modern, luxuriousversion of a colonial steamboat. We traveled the Mekong River into the delta of South Vietnam, visiting villagers and observing their way of life on and near the river. They and the Cambodians further upriver were among the most welcoming people we have encountered on our travels in the world. Their way of life is much unchanged from decades past, simple, centered on the family and the village. They use the Mekong for transport, irrigation and to raise fish crops.
One evening on our cruise boat we were introduced to the great Khmer dance tradition of Apsara, the dance of divine nymphs, as well as other cultural traditions.
We visited Phnom Penh and were confronted with the stark reality of the brutal genocide of 1.7 million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge reign. It is disturbing and mystifying why these horrors erupt in a modern world.
The last days of our journey were at Siem Reap, gateway to the Angkor complex, with its incredible temples created from the 9th to 15th centuries during the great Khmer Empire. There are over 1000 temples, ranging from a pile of broken stones to the magnificent Angkor Wat, the world’s single largest religious monument. We visited a handful of the most significant temples, and were amazed at the scale, the architecture and the incredible detail of the stone carving and its complex meanings and the stories displayed.
