By mid morning we were back at the RV AmaLotus on our way to Wat Hanchey – yes another temple and a challenging climb to the summit for breath-taking views of the Mekong.
Wat Hanchey is an ancient hilltop pagoda dating from the 6-7th Centuries. Located as far upstream of the Mekong as the RV Ama Lotus can navigate safely at the end of the dry season, Wat Hanchey is a complex of temples dating from a number of periods of Khmer History.
An American bomb in the Vietnam War heavily damaged one of the smaller temples (See 2nd Photo) whilst the casing of another bomb is used as a bell in the complex.
The hill overlooks a bend in the river with a large island. The views of the Mekong from this viewpoint were truly magnificent and one could only imagine the river curling on its journey through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, China and Tibet many hundreds of kilometres to the north.
It was a hot afternoon but I survived and much enjoyed the village walk although besieged by many children. All very friendly but extremely dirty and we were warned not to drink until we had washed our hands thoroughly if we had made contact with them. A shame but in this land of high humidity and temperatures bugs abound and I had no wish for a repeat of my tummy problems!!
Tonight was our last night aboard so time to settle accounts, pack and enjoy the captain’s farewell cocktail party (See photo).
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