In the morning at 6:15 before the heat appears, some have an early morning photo walk with Max Seigal and at 7:00 a.m. some go with Martin Cohen to view a very interesting colony of fruit bats (flying foxes) in a tall tree near Wat Phnom. It was truly an amazing scene.
Today we spend the whole day leisurely cruising the Mekong River to the border with Vietnam, while at the same time listening to an informative lecture on the history of Cambodia. The extremely enthusiastic presentation entitled ‘A Shorty History of Modern Cambodia (1953-1993)’ was given by Royal University of Phnom Penh Professor, Dr. Jean-Michel Filippi. Jean-Michel in his 80 minute lecture tried to sort out the complex situation and chaos which lead to the rise and eventual fall of the Khmer Rouge. After a short break, Jean-Michel stayed around for another hour-and-a-half to answer questions before catching a taxi back to Phnom Penh. Jean-Michel is a top lecturer on Cambodian history and arts but is a genius when it comes to linguistics. He speaks and writes the Khmer language better than most Cambodians and is a Cambodian citizen. It was a real treat to have such a distinguished scholar share his incredible knowledge with us.
In the afternoon, we are given the opportunity to see the bowels of the ship and later Max Seigal gave a workshop demonstration on how to create great photographs with iPhones and iPads.
When we reached the Vietnamese border, we spent roughly two hours with customs and immigration procedures and then continued our cruise to the picturesque 10-mile, man-made Tan Chau canal, which connects the upper river with the lower Bassac River. We eventually anchored at the Vietnamese fishing port of Chau Doc for the night.
In the evening, we met with our Vietnamese guides, Mr. Tri and Mr. Tai. Mr. Tai gave us a warm welcome and a wonderful slideshow of his native land.
