SocTrang

We go even further south and a bit east, 70 more km to SocTrang. This is the home of most of the 2 million Khmer, or Cambodian, people, who were left behind when VietNam assimilated the Delta area. The people are estranged from their native land and are now considered VietNamese, accept when it comes to benefits of such association. Most live by the waterways in small grass houses, often propped up with bamboo poles from the last time the whole thing simply fell down. They are very unsubstantial and the people are very poor. There are two things to see in Soc Trang other than the people and the countryside. One is the museum of Khmer Culture which is in an old community temple in the middle of town. 

When we arrived in mid-morning, Heip we found the building locked. Heip went off asking about how to get in, and someone soon came, explaining, "No one ever

visits the museum." We soon found out why. Following the briefest museum visit in history, we headed to the second site of interest, the Bat Pagoda. This is a Buddhist Pagoda with the sitting Buddha and paintings of his life seeking enlightenment. The bat symbolizes power in this culture, and all around the grounds giant bats hang chirping in trees. They are huge, weighting around two kilos and having a wingspan of 1 1/2 meters. An aquaintance of mine was an Army Captain stationed with riverine forces at SocTrang. After almost a year of that stress he found himself in his tent one day starting to hate gekos. They were running all over the inside of his tent. He says he snapped and started blazing away at them with his .45. I wouldn't have wanted to be nearby. Like me, he became a Priest of the Episcopal Church later. 

The road back to CanTho is straight and filled with children on the way home from school at the end of the morning. They part in waves to each side as our car speeds down the center of this smooth but narrow road. We reach CanTho for lunch and Heip said that he wants us to try the city's other restaurant. It has excellent fried snake, he assures us. We eat while he scurries off to arrange for a half day boat trip on the MeKong, which I have requested.

Stranded:  On the Water in the Delta