The climate of the Mekong River Basin ranges from temperate to tropical. All I know for sure is that where we find ourselves today it is hot and humid and there is nothing but 'white water' ahead. So much to see and never enough time. What a rush in every sense of the word.
During our second week in SEA the production team of three focuses it’s cameras and all it’s energy (and remaining shekels, I might add) on discovering the rural rice farmers who farm along a section of the Mekong River that sweeps down the broad curve of the river that borders Thailand, from Vientiane, Laos to Don Khong Island, Laos down near the Cambodian border. Here, the lives of the farmers revolve around a section of the Mekong that has long served as a lifeline into this interior. Along the Mekong there are astounding visible signs of history stretching back to the 6th and 7th century:
gigantic Buddha statues atop mountains, breathtaking ruins and an ambiance that evokes an authentic awe in so many travelers. And there is genetic evidence that shows that rice originated 8,200 to 13,500 years ago and began moving down this important waterway.
It is an important part of the world and we sense it. So - what do you do when, after a long trip to the other side of our planet and a long, red-eye railroad trip to this exact destination?
Well, the thinking was given that there was about to be a spectacular sunset on the river, it was unanimous: a cold beer with a view of the whole event would be in-order.
Soon we realize that we’d better find a place to rest for the night. No problem as long as I leave it in the hands of the all-female crew. I take a cold shower and hit the rack with Mark Twain’s “Roughing It.” Wun goes for a jog. Jogging in that kind of heat is unimaginable to me. Gloria goes shopping for batteries. Stick a fork in me - I'm done.
