When Doug and I returned to Saigon we stayed for three days in our hotel room, as I was very sick with the flu. Doug booked us a two day boat trip up the Mekong Delta that started out early in the morning with a bus ride. The tour guide was very nice, a total character and quite knowledgeable about Vietnamese history. After a few hours on the bus, they pulled into an area of the Mekong Delta and we took a touring boat up the river and into a VietCong base camp on a three or four man rowing boat.
We got back onto the bus and continued up the highway until we came to a little town with an incense factory. They had the cutest little baby there and we got to watch the women making incense.
That night we stayed in a hotel in Chou Doc. I was still pretty sick and had a terrible sore throat by now. The next day we got up and took a large boat up the river that would lead us into Cambodia. This boat was roomy and comfortable, which meant that we wouldn't stay on it for very long... Eventually we disembarked and climbed up the mudbank into a little village along the Mekong. Our guide took us to a "restaurant" that had a dirt floor and two or three tables. Doug sat with his back to the food preparation area, which is probably why he ordered lunch. I was so sick that I just had some water. As Doug chowed down on his hot pot, I watched as the dogs came and licked the dirty dishes under the food preparation table. Later one of the women began wiping down the table and I thought, "Gee, now thats really nice - at least she is trying to keep it clean in here." The next moment she hopped up on the table, barefoot, followed by the rest of the family, including their cat. I told three Korean girls who were along on the trip that my mother would die if she saw me eating in such a place and they laughed and said their mothers would do the same.
We filled out paperwork to enter Cambodia, then got on a speed boat with benches going across. I put my head down and held my hood over to keep out the wind. Doug was getting bounced all over the front of the boat and later had a bit of a backache. We disembarked up a muddy riverbank to the Vietnamese exit area and walked down a muddy path to the Cambodian entry area. We offered our passports and paperwork and got back on the boat after about 45 minutes. We sped off, then pulled in to another inspection area, but the soldier on the shore waived us on. We spent another two hours on the speedboat, then disembarked up another muddy riverbank in Cambodia and boarded an old bus bound for Phnom Penh. We rode for about two hours and finally arrived in Phnom Penh.
We met a very kind man on the bus who lived in Phnom Penh and recommended the Golden Gate Hotel at #9 Street 278. We went up to our room and found it to be quite comfortable. By now I was incredibly sick with strep throat, so Doug left for the pharmacy to pick up some antibiotics. I was so sick all I could do was lay in bed and call for my mother. I turned on the TV - AND THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS WERE PLAYING SOME SUCKY TEAM FROM WISCONSIN IN THE PLAYOFFS! Wow! This really cheered me up. By the second half Doug returned with antibiotics and hamburgers and fries. This was the point at which I decided I was going to let him live after putting me through the two day boat trip.
After recuperating for two days we set out to find an AA meeting we had heard about from a fellow we met in Nha Trang. We went to the regular noon meeting and there were three Western men there - no Cambodians. It was an incredible experience to sit in a meeting in Cambodia and it was all I could do to keep from crying. That afternoon Doug and I went to the Foreign Correspondent's Club overlooking the river and that night we met a few of the fellows from the meeting for a dinner in a lovely riverfront restaurant.
