Vietnam to Cambodia Mekong cruise delivers snake wine, tarantulas and food by Luke Nguyen

 March 10, 2014 12:00AM

The view over the Mekong River in Cambodia from Wat Hanchey. Picture: Angela Saurine. Source: Supplied

IT’S sunset on the Mekong River and the waterway is a hive of activity.

A Vietnamese woman in front of her house in Tan Chau, 20km from the Cambodia border. Source: Supplied

Tarantulas for sale in the markets in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Source: Supplied

Fishermen throw large nets from small wooden boats against the backdrop of an orange sky, while the sound of monks chanting emanates from the pagodas on the horizon.

Fish paste outside a home at Tan Chau, Vietnam. Source: Supplied

As we glide slowly by, we are greeted by a chorus of “hu-llos” from children swimming and standing in front of makeshift houses on the muddy riverbank.

A woman makes rice paper rolls in Cai Be. Source: Supplied

We return their waves from the balcony of the owner’s suite on the RV AmaLotus.
I should point out we are not actually staying in the owner’s suite – we have been invited to a “room party” by two fellow passengers on our APT cruise.
In response to our nagging, the down-to-earth Mark and Pat from Melbourne have kindly offered to organise pre-dinner drinks so we can stickybeak at their palatial digs.
About 30 of us are gathered in the room, which is about three times the size of ours on the deck below, with a king bed, separate living area and a bath overlooking a balcony.
The ship’s Cambodian and Vietnamese crew have gone above and beyond, setting up tables with wine, drinks and nibblies for us to enjoy.
“When I asked them to bring snacks they thought I said snakes!” Pat roars.

It’s not such an outrageous proposition in these parts.
A few days earlier we had visited a factory-cum-souvenir shop in the small town of Cai Be in Vietnam, where those of us game enough had tried snake wine from a glass jar where the creature’s body had been fermenting for three months.
We drink it down in a ceramic shot glass. I jerk my head and close my eyes as the potent liquid burns my throat on the way down.
During our tour of the factory we see coconut milk being extracted and cooked in a large wok to make candy, and meet a lady who spends her days making rice-paper rolls.
Just down the road two women are sitting on their veranda shelling longan fruit, working until 3am each day to earn $US5 ($5.60).
Our seven-night cruise begins with a dinner inspired by Vietnamese-Australian chef and APT ambassador Luke Nguyen. We feast on dishes served at his acclaimed Sydney restaurant Red Lantern. The menu includes roast duck and enoki mushroom rice-paper rolls and tiger prawns fried in young green rice flakes, tamarind and pineapple broth with prawns and beef.
While in Vietnam we visit a brick factory in Su Dec where women load and unload bricks and tiles for $US4.50 a day. It is hot, relentless work but with the threat of technology from Saigon – where bricks can be made quicker and cheaper – they are happy to have a job.
We wander through the colourful markets where snails, snakes and skinned rats are sold for food and visit the historic Chinese-style house which featured in the film The Lovers, based on the book by French writer Marguerite Duras about her illicit affair with the son of a rich Chinese merchant.

Children play in Angkor Ban village in Cambodia. Source: Supplied

En route to Evergreen Island we pass ramshackle houses, which have been cobbled together with corrugated iron, wood, tarpaulins and bamboo.
Many families live in boats because they don’t have enough money to buy land.
Before we know it we are crossing the border to Cambodia, where we watch monkeys chase pigeons along the rim of the Royal Palace in the capital Phnom Penh and see locusts, tarantulas, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles and silkworms for sale at the markets.
It is here that our trip takes a more serious turn as we visit the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, where 20,000 people were killed by the Khmer Rouge as part of Pol Pot’s attempt to rid the country of its educated classes and create a pure, self-sufficient peasant society.
In all, two million people are believed to have been killed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 – out of a population of seven million – and Choeung Ek is one of 380 mass graves throughout the country.

The RV Amalotus on the banks of the Mekong River in Cambodia. Picture: Angela Saurine Source: Supplied

Our guide Sophia lost 12 family members in the genocide, including her uncles – a soldier, a pilot and a professor. Her grandmother was killed by a bomb.
As we wander among the grass-covered mounds, still peppered with bones, and learn of atrocities too horrific to comprehend, Sophia is overcome by emotion.
But she feels a deep sense of duty to work as a tour guide to inform people about what happened to her country.

A brick factory at Sa Dec in Vietnam. Source: Supplied

She dreams of opening her own travel agency and starting a foundation to provide scholarships for tertiary education. “Education is key for the future of my country,” she says.

Skulls on display at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek near Phnom Penh. Source: Supplied

Next we visit the S21 Detention Centre and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former high school where 21,000 people were detained, shackled and tortured.
Haunting black and white photos of former prisoners line the walls of the classrooms-turned-cells. Only seven men and two boys who were held here survived the ordeal, and only two of these are still alive.
We meet one of them signing books outside. Sophia translates as the 84-year-old tells us how he spent four months in jail, was tortured on his first day and ate insects to survive.
He thanks us for coming and learning about the country’s history, saying it helps his people heal.
The writer was a guest of APT.

Sunset from the deck of the RV Amalotus on the Mekong River in Cambodia. Source: Supplied

GO2 - MEKONG RIVER
Getting there
APT is offering a fly-free deal when you book any of its Vietnam and Cambodia holidays of 12 days or more departing June to September or December this year, including air taxes of up to $600. Offer is subject to availability and terms and conditions apply.
Cruising there
The RV AmaLotus has a large lounge where briefings about shore excursions are held, a restaurant, deck bar and pool, a small gym and sauna and a spa with three treatment rooms. While cruising, presentations are held about Vietnam and Cambodia as well as napkin, towel folding and fruit carving demonstrations and Vietnamese cooking classes. In Phnom Penh orphans and street children from a non-profit organisation come aboard to perform several dances.
More: Contact APT on ph 1300 196 420, see aptouring.com.au
NEED more travel inspiration? Click below to explore our ultimate travel bucket list: