The breakfast dining room was abuzz as we cast off and continued up the Tonle Sap River. This narrow river drains the vital Tonle Sap Lake, which is one of the most important bodies of fresh water in the world. Its annual fluctuations with the rainy and dry seasons have flooded and fertilized rice fields and fisheries for millennia, and we were told that this would be one of the most scenic and interesting river stretches of our voyage. But the breakfast buzz was not about the upcoming river cruise. It was about the fantastic experiences that we already had this morning in the riverside village of Kampong Tralach, and it was only 8:30 a.m.!
Dawn broke to the sound of monks chanting and wedding music on the opposite shore-side, and first light revealed a busy flotilla of sampans paddling two, three, and four people from one side of the river to Kampong Tralach on the other. As the landscape took shape, we could see a long line of oxen and oxcarts atop the riverbank, and a few of the Jahan sailors wading through the water hyacinth to secure the ship to the embankment and lay out the planks of our improvisational gangway. The oxcarts were for us, and we piled into the backs of them two-by-two to begin our bouncing journey through the rice paddies and lotus ponds. None of us had ever dreamed we would be riding oxcarts through the rice paddy dawn of the Cambodian countryside, but it was an absolutely unforgettable experience. With beautiful white and pink lotus flowers rising above the drying ponds, we couldn’t help but stop to photograph these holiest of flowers that are a symbol of Buddhism and enlightenment. Past a few rural brick factories we went, until the oxen stopped and we were told that we’d have to walk the rest of the way because there was a wedding going on adjacent to our destination at the local school.
It was a visual and cultural overload, arriving at the wedding with the bride and groom in the school grounds, and then seeing literally hundreds of schoolchildren lined up at school and waiting for us. But wait, this wasn’t a school day – as this is the holiday week for the Cambodian New Year. What’s going on here? It turns out that guests on some of the previous Lindblad/National Geographic voyages on the Jahan this year had initiated an organized project to teach English in the community to children who otherwise would not have the opportunity. The village leaders believe that English is the key to opportunity and future jobs, and that this would be the most effective use of outside aid. The classes are offered at night and have been running for over one month, with an astounding attendance of over three hundred evening students! And the unbelievable thing was that the English teachers and hundreds of students came today at a holiday sunrise to greet us, show their progress, and say thank you. It was beyond expression, though the photographs captured the excitement and emotion.
The rest of the day was filled with further action and enlightenment: river cruising, a comprehensive overview of modern Cambodian history, Khmer clothing and dress, and an interesting boat ride through the floating villages of Kampong Chhnaang. But the kids and the wedding will live with us forever, and that’s why we travel the way we do.
