day 57... upriver to cambodia

boats, boats, and more boats

even the houses are boats

such is life in the floating village

where baths, dishes, and laundry are all done
on your doorstep

and dinner is caught under your floorboards

heck some people never leave for land

while others go only to sell their goods

meanwhile we make pace for cambodia

and all our friends come out to wish us farewell.
goodbye vietnam

hello cambodia.
please enter customs afloat

after LOTS of paperwork we're shuffled off to passport control

where passports are CAREFULLY scanned by 5 men with a playstation2.
fingerprints and retinal scans be damned

3 rubber stamps down

and 6 more hours to go

yet the monotony could not bring down our chain smoking captain

international ferry stop... somewhere in cambodia

day 56... sifting through the mekong delta

boat bound

for our tour of the life aquatic

where candy shops float

rice is steamed

and fried.
here black sand is used to make it pop like rice crispies

after which the (heavy) sand is sifted out and the rice is made into treats.
very yum indeed

back on the river more rice heads downstream

while we break for lunch

tummies full, we head upstream towards cambodia

and reach chau doc for one last night in vietnam

day 55.. entering the cu chi tunnels

with trepidation we enter the cu chi tunnels

an elaborate set of tunnels dug(by hand) near saigon to aid the north's war effort.
from here south vietnamese communist rebels launched attacks on US bases

above ground traps were camouflaged amongst the leaves for defensive measures

in attempt to remove these threats, US bombers turned cu chi into a moon scape

at 1m x .75m, some tunnels still remain... we toured a very dark and clausterphobic 150m portion as our backs couldn't take much more