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AFRICASIAEURO  Mekong Blues - Yujinghong marvelous Xishuangbana 

Day starts early at 03.00 a.m

Exactly 4AM our Taxidriver arrives, he delivers the bags as arranged to the waiting boat.

The dock dimly lit, the waters of the Mekong gushing below when we cross the narrow bridge to the vessel.

Our skipper cranks the two powerful Ship diesels at 04.50 a.m.

It is still dark, when he steers the boat into midstream. Gigantic in size, the Mekong lies ahead of us, some 800 km north, our destination.

Slowly, the boat picks up speed, shivering under the mighty force of the two Engines.

Once again, like so many times before, I begin to drift away, imagining this world beside the river, people living in simple straw-covered huts, just like in Africa. How I ended up in this corner of the world?

Fate, destiny, Karma, don't know what brought me here. My Airasia flight was to take me to Macau, but the Bangkok demonstrations made the change to my itinerary.

For one week we were held up in Bangkok, with no end in sight, I decided to leave Thailand through this route.

Many other stranded foreigners were still stuck in their Hotels, some left via Malaysia.

As so many times befores, I find no answer to my situation. I traveled through dark age Africa, many times over have I seen strange places on my journeys.  Mekong and the ship-diesels drown all thoughts.

This is new, unknown territory. Unfamiliar with lengthy boat trips. as I have a natural aversion towards the waters of the sea, or lakes, or rivers for that matter.

We are one hour into cruising when daylight finally breaks. The misty hills along both shores seem to hang deep down towards the water; jungles filled with heavy fog.

Chilled air rises from the river to the deck; water temperature is cold here; the rushing stream of the murky Mekong glides beside us. The Diesels below deck in a round, trembling run; nothing can stop the powerful 500 HP 8 cylinders.

First daylight brings us on deck, a stern chill awaits us, swimming vests wrapped around us we climb to the outer deck.

Now only we become aware of the Mekong's treacherous rapids; steering left and right the skipper avoids shallow waters to avoid running the vessel aground.

On frequent occasions the captain throttles the engines; when rocks appear from the waters, which are dangerously close.

He knows the river, one can be sure.

Continued : Guan Lei ...