JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG
PART 6 THE END OF OUR JOURNEY
Cambodia was in many ways similar to Laos, although it has twice the population. At another inn, we talked with a teacher who told us that half of the people in her country couldn't read or write. Her village couldn't even afford to build a school, so she had to teach outside under a large tent. When we said goodbye, we all felt very lucky to have studied in college. Back on the road, we passed between many hills and forests. Then we came to the plains and entered Phnom Penh(金边), the capital of Cambodia. In many ways it looked like Vientiane and Ho Chi Minh City; it also had wide streets with trees in rows and old French houses. Unlike Vientiane, ships could travel the Mekong River here. In the centre of the city we visited the palace and saw a beautiful white elephant. It can only be seen outside the palace on special days. We ate an early supper and went to see a great temple with floors made of silver.
The next morning our group slept late. We were very tired from the long bike ride the day before. Cycling in the hills had been difficult. Now our cousins had the chance to make jokes about Wang Wei and me. Perhaps, they said, they were the strong ones! We had lunch at a nice outdoor cafe. then rode out of the city. Two days later we crossed the border into Vietnam. We began to see many more people, but I wasn't surprised. I read in an atlas before our trip that Vietnam has almost seven times the population of Cambodia. We met a farmer who gave us directions and told us that he grows a new rice crop four times every year so he can feed more people. He also told us that the northern part of his country has many mountains and it is much cooler than here in the south, where it is flat. Although the flat delta made it easier for us to cycle, we got warm very quickly. So we drank lots of water and ate lots of bananas. Soon the delta separated into nine smaller rivers.
Two days later, after we had passed thousands of rice fields, we came to the sea. We were tired but also in high spirits: our dream to cycle along the Mekong River had finally come true.
