Exploring the Mekong by Hovercraft –
From Ho Chi Minh City to China
Part 1

It always was a fancy dream of me to go out into the world and explore foreign mountains, rivers and islands in the sea. Inspired by travel reports of Marco Polo, Columbus and James Cook, this childhood dream came true, when I was assigned to be the tour director of the prestigious and ambitious river expedition on the Mekong in November 2002. The expedition was done in a Shanghai-built hovercraft to tap and assess the tourism potential of the mighty Mekong River. It started at Simao Port in China's mountainous Yunnan Province on November 3 and was successfully completed on November 17, when the hovercraft cruised into the port of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City by way of the Mekong Delta with six happy-looking foreigners on board - after a two week journey.

The Expedition's Routing

Predictably, there were some logistic problems to overcome, but the most important one was to bring the hovercraft back to China. As the seats for an Australian film crew on the return journey were cancelled because of the Bali bombing incident in Indonesia, the 4-member Chinese crew of the hovercraft was setting sail again on November 21 from Ho Chi Minh City. With our interpreter from Laos, who could master Chinese, English and Thai, and a Vietnamese guide, we revived the scenario of the French River Expedition of 1866 to find a trade route to China. But in contrast to the six French explorers of that time, who needed two years for their endeavor, we knew our way on the river and concentrated to arrive in China within ten days. Also, I knew what I wanted to explore beforehand.

Our first destination was Can Tho, from where I planned to make an excursion to Oc Eo, a legendary ancient port in the Mekong Delta. Leaving the skyscrapers and high-rising buildings of Ho Chi Minh City behind, we passed thick mangrove and palm vegetation, river boats and industrial estates to reach the market town of My Tho at the Tien Giang River after a three hour cruise at 9.15. I remembered that German explorer Dr. Adolf Bastian passed this town in 1864 on his way from Cambodia to Cochin China. From My Tho, we reached the port of Can Tho at the Hau Giang River at 13.45 after missing the entrance to the Song Mang Thit Canal.

Life on the Mekong Delta

In Can Tho we were transferred to the Golf 4 Hotel, which was near the waterfront and a standing statue of Ho Chi Minh, who died in 1969 during the infamous American War. I started my excursion to Oc Eo in a rented car and with a guide at 16.00 to arrive via Long Xuyen at the Linh Tu Su Temple at the foot of Ba The Mountain. By surprise, I discovered a statue of a female goddess and a blackened stone inscription.

From the 1st to 7th centuries AD, archaeological remains and Chinese reports suggest that Southeast Asia's oldest great cosmopolitan trading center called Fu Nan rose and prospered in the Mekong Delta. Oc Eo, where early Sanskrit inscriptions has been found, portrays a densely populated settlement near the seacoast and testifies to a bustling system of waterways, the import of raw materials and export of manufactured items. The discovery of various objects of Mediterranean origin is evidence of a Graeco-Roman trade connection via South India. But who were the inhabitants of Fu Nan is shrouded in mystery.

Early next morning, we left the port of Can Tho at 7.00, with two pilots on board, and cruised back to the Tien Giang River via Long Xuyen and the connecting Song Van Nao River, which is a big catfish breeding area. It was here that we had to stop near some Vietnamese rice fields to repair for the first time the steering gear of the hovercraft. At 11.30, we finally reached the Vietnamese border post of Song Tien and needed two hours over lunchtime for the exit out of Vietnam and the entry into Cambodia. At the Cambodian border post of Khaorm Sam Nor Kaoh Roka, we were welcomed by our new guide and a pilot. The scenery changed now dramatically, as the crowded and busy river gave way to a few poor settlements with straw-roofed houses on stilts.

After passing the ferry port of Neak Luong and some wood processing factories, we reached the peninsula of Kien Svay and crossed Chaktomuk or the river of four faces, where the Mekong River splits into four branches and Phnom Penh is located. We arrived in the port of Phnom Penh at 16.30 and discussed with the operations manager of Diethelm Travel, Mr. Kim Theany, whether to continue another two hours to reach Kampong Cham on the Upper Mekong or better stay in Phnom Penh. As the handling of refueling took a long time, and reconfirming with the pilot, we decided to overnight in the nearby Riverside Hotel. At 19.00, we had an opulent Thai dinner at the River House and went to bed early.

The Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh

As soon as the sun came up next morning, we boarded the hovercraft and passed some Khmer and Cham fishing communities to reach the new bridge over the Mekong River at Kampong Cham after a three hours ride at 8.45. In full view of the new Mekong Hotel, I reflected about the French River Expedition, when they passed this area in 1866. The French had left Saigon on June 5 of that year on a steam-powered gunboat with 150 cases of hard rations, 700 liters of wine, 300 liters of brandy, 15 cases of trade goods and one case with scientific instruments. They had one week to visit the ruins of Angkor and left Phnom Penh on July 7 to reach Kratie, where they transferred their supplies into pirogues.

We reached Kratie at 13.00 having passed the pre-Angkorian Hanchey sanctuary located on a hill and were transferred to the Heng Heng Restaurant for lunch. After refueling, we departed at 13.45 to reach the Cambodian-Laotian border via Stung Treng, but we got stuck shortly behind the long stretch of the Sambor Rapids. Surrounded by sugar palm-studded islands and rocks extruding from the river, we were rapidly loosing control over the hovercraft and stopped at 16.30 for one hour to repair the long rope connected to the steering wheel. A fisherman appeared out of nowhere to sell us fish to survive. Later, we slowly drifted upstream until the sunset and it seemed impossible to reach Stung Treng. Interesting to note that the French Expedition needed a week to pass these rapids to reach Stung Treng on July 20.

At 18.15, we stopped at a very small village, where our guide and pilot arranged a dinner and rest place for the night. After that, the Chinese crew tried to repair the hovercraft under some spotlights. At 21.00, the crew gave notice that the steering wheel was in order and we could continue to Stung Treng. We had luck on our side, because the moon was still full shortly after the year's most important water festival and there was an experienced boatman to accompany us. After two hours, we made it to Stung Treng and were transferred to the Suk Sombat Hotel for a short night's sleep.

Hilltribal Granny near Stung Treng

At 8.00 next morning, we left Stung Treng, a river port at the Se San River, and made it to the international border without further accident. There were trees and bushes in the river, where seagulls abounded, and only a few huts on the riverbank. At 9.30, we reached the Cambodian border post of Dong Crolor and arrived half an hour later at Veun Kham in Laos. Everybody was waiting there to lift the hovercraft out of the water by crane and transport it on a flatbed trailer around the Khon waterfalls. The French expedition had left Stung Treng on August 13 and reached the Khon Falls on August 17. On September 11, they finally landed in Champasak, never thinking that this was to be their base for over two months.

We decided to continue our way straight to Pak Se. After having lunch in the Piang Di Restaurant on the Mekong River, we were transferred to Ban Hat opposite Khong Island, where the hovercraft was lifted back into the water. We departed Ban Hat at 14.00 and passed the holy mountain of Wat Phu on the western side of the river, while the impressive Boloven Plateau silhouetted in the east. At 17.30, we reached the new bridge over the Mekong River south of Pak Se and landed 15 minutes later at the mouth of the Se Don River. There, we were transferred from the port to the Lao Chaleun Hotel in town to overnight and dream about reaching Thailand tomorrow.

Starting the bright morning with a French-style breakfast, I headed to the nearby Heritage Museum in Pak Se to study the local history. The history of the Champasak Kingdom goes back to the beginning of the 18th century, when Laos was divided into three independent kingdoms. During French colonial times, the area was pacified and is today a solid part of modern Laos. But not so far from Pak Se on the Boloven Plateau, some unexplored tribes are even nowadays clinging to their old manners and customs.

Wat Phou near Champasak

As today's ride in the hovercraft was the shortest one of the whole trip back to China, we departed Pak Se at 10.00 to reach our next destination – the luxury Tohsaeng Resort in Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani Province. We passed the long-stretched huge limestone cliffs on the western side of the Mekong River, while school children were waving towards us at the eastern riverbank. At 11.45, we reached the mouth of the Mun River in Thailand, where we were waived in to stay in the generously built hotel compound. We had the whole afternoon to relax at the swimming pool and organized a spectacular sunset trip by hovercraft for the entourage of the nai amphoe district official to inspect the dammed Mun River. At 20.00, we had a dinner in the hotel and were entertaining the visiting immigration officers.

The Luxurious Tohsaeng Khong Jiam Resort

On the morning of November 26, we departed at 6.30 from Khong Jiam in Ubon Ratchathani to Nakorn Phanom with a break in Khemarat for refueling. The scenery on this stretch was offering a vista for the eyes, because the river cut its bed deeply into the sandstone formations on both riverbanks. Waterfalls abounded and the river gorge narrowed between 22-56 meters. We passed some colorful monasteries on the Thai side of the river and reached the pier in Khemarat at 11.15 to enjoy a picnic lunch in the boat.

After some district officials had inspected our hovercraft, raising the Chinese flag on top, we departed at noon to pass some more dangerous rapids. At 14.15, we saw the ultra-modern watchtower of Mukdahan and passed Savannakhet, a busy town on the Lao side of the river. There will be a Second Friendship Bridge constructed to connect the two towns as part of the East-West Economic Corridor project.

The Mekong River soon became wider and wider and there seemed to be cranes and dredges almost everywhere to heave sand and gravel from the bottom of the river. At 15.30, we passed the elegant chedi of That Phanom, where the local history goes back to the time of the Buddha, and one hour later we saw That Sikhottabong on the Lao side of the river glittering in the evening sun. The river seemed to become a sea with waves, forming several scattered islands and sandbanks. We were in the heart of the legendary Suwannaphum Kingdom and approached the pier of Nakorn Phanom at 17.15.

That Phanom Stupa

Welcomed by Nick Ascot, the managing director of North by North East Tours, we were transferred to the River View Hotel, from where we watched the rugged limestone landscape of opposite Tha Khek town in Laos disappearing in the haze of the sunset. At 19.00, we enjoyed having dinner in the Vietnamese Le Tonkin Restaurant, as Nakorn Phanom is famous to be a center of the Vietnamese community, and left it to Nick Ascot to prepare our second entry to Laos next morning.

There was a romantic sunrise over the limestone hills of Tha Khek, when we crossed in our hovercraft from Nakorn Phanom to the immigration border post in Laos at 6.15. It took us only half an hour to clear the formalities there and our departure to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was timely at 6.45. Passing the Christian church of Saint Anna north of Nakorn Phanom, we reached the pilgrimage center of Wat Phra That U Then at 7.30. Later, we recognized large vegetable fields on the I-San side of the river, while on the Lao side mountains arose, when we landed for refueling at the pier of Pak San, the center of the Christian community in Laos. We spend half an hour on shore and departed to Vientiane at 11.45.

Saint Anna Cathedral in Nakorn Phanom

Taking our Lao lunch in the boat, we passed a Sleeping Buddha image in front of a golden rock pagoda on the Lao side of the river. I reviewed the fantastic Ban Chiang Culture of this area, where a wet rice-growing and bronze-casting society evolved some 4.000 years ago. There is new evidence that the sophisticated rice-growing complex started some 7.000 years ago somewhere on the Malay Peninsula and spread from there to India and China. Was Eden really in the East, I wondered?

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