Day 144: Phnom Penh - Kampong Chhnang

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Leaving our mooring just east of Phnom Penh we glance by the capital in the early morning, get back to our main south to north route and sail the Tonle River which connects Tonle Sap Lake with the Mekong and Bassac Rivers that merge at Phnom Penh.

Per the brochure “this river journey is a highlight of the trip. We wind our way through jungle, and as the river narrows we feel we can almost reach out and touch the houses and people who come out to cheer our ship on. Temples abound along the river banks at Kampong Chhnang, and we see the rich tapestry of Cambodian rural life. This is a busy rural port town with bustling markets.”

Riding the Waves

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Fairly good description, although we were a few meters from being able to grab anything! Children, and indeed a few of the grown-ups, shout and wave hellos and goodbyes from the shore, as we on board wave back and snap pictures. It’s actually pretty hard work waving all that time, but you feel obliged to give the kids some response – almost feel sympathy for the Queen and can certainly see why she ditched the yacht.

As we pass along, taking hundreds of pictures, we pass much larger floating villages than we’ve seen to date and huge fish traps (some half a kilometre long).

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We skip the day’s excursion as it sounds pretty similar to those already done (floating village / boat ride / another bloody market) and there’s a lot of life to be seen from deck even whilst at anchor. And we’re lazy.

To finish off a great day, everyone is out for pre and post dinner drinks on the sun deck, but all slightly sad to be leaving both the ship and friends recently made tomorrow. Surprisingly we were some of the first to retire for the evening, subconsciously saving ourselves for New Years Eve I’m sure.