by Philip Caputo | Mar 27, 2017 | Mekong Trip Notes, News
The first day aboard the Jahan begins with an early-morning Tai Chi session on the Terrace Deck. It’s led by a young Cambodian woman who executes the forms with a ballet dancer’s grace. The eight or ten passengers who try to follow her, including me,...
by Philip Caputo | Mar 26, 2017 | Mekong Trip Notes, News
“Many Vietnamese want to emigrate to the U.S.,” said the 30-something man named Thinh. He added, half-jokingly–that is, half-seriously: “If you adopt me I could emigrate to America without a visa.” His comment was one indication that my...
by Philip Caputo | Mar 26, 2017 | Mekong Trip Notes, News
Friday, the 3d of March. We are off the Tonle Sap and back on the Mekong, which isn’t navigable by large vessels for much farther. That’s why it’s our final day on the Jahan. Buddhist monks come aboard to bless the ship, their chants hypnotic and...
by Philip Caputo | Mar 26, 2017 | Mekong Trip Notes, News
Cambodia’s Spider Man stands five feet three or four (with a good wind under him), weighs around 120 pounds (with a brick in his back pocket), and is 66 years old. His real name is Ree — that’s a phonetic spelling — and he earns his living...
by Philip Caputo | Mar 26, 2017 | Mekong Trip Notes, News
On Sunday, after we’ve toured the royal city of Angkor Thom (once the capital of the aforementioned Jayavarman VII), Leslie gets sick. All but five of our group have succumbed at one point or another to the intestinal distress that’s inevitable when...
by Philip Caputo | Mar 26, 2017 | Mekong Trip Notes, News
Phnom Penh would present us with mind-bending contrasts, I stated in my last post. At sunrise, after having another go at Tai Chi on the terrace deck, we disembarked, toured the capital in cyclos, then visited the Royal Palace, a spectacular sight. Pagodas and...
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