them, so it is especially touching to
hear him tell his harrowing story in
the courtyard of S21, a former school
turned detention centre that is now a
genocide museum. (Hardly any detainees survived.) I solemnly tour a gallery
of victim photos, every few minutes
returning to the shade of a frangipani
tree to allow my senses the respite of
something beautiful. Our sombre group
continues on to the Cheung Ek killing
field, a half-hour drive away, where a
tower of skulls looms over mass graves.
After a quiet dinner back on board
the AmaLotus, we are especially grateful for the lighthearted entertainment
provided by a troupe of costumed children who regale us with traditional
dances. They prance and frolic, mimicking monkeys and deer, and we applaud
enthusiastically at the spectacle.
Some distance downstream, we float
into Vietnam. It happens gradually,
almost imperceptibly. After crossing
into Vietnam, the Mekong becomes
busier, and in the villages firm handshakes replace the gentle bow. Culturally and historically, Cambodia (along
with Thailand and Laos) has a strong
Indian influence, whereas Vietnam has
more of a Chinese influence. Together
they form Indochina.
Downstream in Cai Be, there is
a Gothic cathedral to offer spiritual cleansing, and later, after a short
walk, we receive a biblical cleansing
in the form of a torrential downpour
that causes us all to seek shelter in a
sweets factory. Rather conveniently, it
is also our intended stop on the tour.
I watch with amazement at rice being
puffed to perfection with hot sand,
and marvel at a beautiful tableau of a
young woman making caramel sauce.
She’s wearing a jade-green dress and
tending a golden fire fed by coconut
husks—in all her finery, she resembles
a Tretchikoff painting.
Another woman calls me over and
offers me a tipple from a glass thimble. I gamely take a drink. It’s rough,
like bad tequila, and brings tears to my
eyes. She nods knowingly and points to
the bottle from which it came—it contains a dozen venomous snakes. But
just like sailing the waters of the Tonle
Sap, it’s exhilarating to just go with the
flow. When she offers me another, I
don’t refuse.
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