On Thursday, my second day in Cambodia, I got to float down the Mekong river! The Cambodian Rural Development Team organized a team trip down the Mekong, one of the most bio-diverse rivers on the planet. Not only that, but out of every 200 fish caught in the world, 1 comes from the Mekong River!
We floated on inner tubes for 20km from Campi to Kretche, where the CRDT head offices are. The section we covered is home to a dwindling dolphin population and the float trip was meant as a kind of parade to draw attention to one of the most important resources for Cambodia, as well as the rest of South East Asia, since it also runs through Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Right now, Laos is proposing a dam that could do irreversible damage to the river. Not enough research has been done to determine what the side-effects might be and environmental experts are advising that they take more time - up to ten years - to do the research. Still, the dam's construction could begin as early as April.
We will see what happens after the next meeting, but apparently the majority of the committee is more interested in the relatively small economic benefits than the environmental impact.
Nevertheless, we had a great day. The water is warm and the current is fast.
Even the Cambodians got a little burnt!
