Angela and Chris Cambodia: Lawnmower engine V the Mighty Mekong

We have visited the Khone Falls area, on and above the Cambodian/Laos border, twice; once in the Wet season and again in the Dry season and what a contrast in the scenery.

Say Cheese!!!! (happy cow cheese)

We went up to the falls in a small boat in August 2011 during the Wet season. The Mekong was in flood with water pouring down from Laos and the boat’s engine wasn’t strong enough to overpower the river current and make positive headway, at times we were moving backwards.

When I say engine we are not talking Mercury 20 HP outboard motor , no on the stern there is a homemade affair consisting of lawnmower- type engine , 18 foot of steel tube with a propellor welded to the end.(You should expect me to be critical, I'm an engineer)

We didn’t know when we cast off; in truth the river conditions and size of the boat made the journey very risky and it was only the skill of the local boatman which prevented us from capsizing on numerous occasions. Many times we had to cheat; creeping along the leeside of partly submerged trees and bushes. The boatman refueled direct from a dirty plastic container whilst his helper restrained the boat by him clinging to a partly submerged tree trunk.

Helper clinging to tree branches to keep us head into the current

As it turned out, the closest we could get to the falls was maybe 300 metres downstream and the atmosphere in the boat was tense as we dared to moor and take quick pictures.

The closest we could get to the huge natural barrier to Navigation.

We experienced close at hand the Mekong’s pure unrestrained aggression as millions of litres of water crashed over the rocks and into Cambodia every second.

Poor pic quality due to hands shaking with tension!

It was a spectacular sight but the relief was palpable when we cast off , swung round and the boat withdrew, helped on the return journey by the river current.

April 2012 and the Dry season gave entirely different conditions at the falls. Our friends from the UK, Pauline, Graham and Sarah were staying with us and we rode motorbikes up the brown roads following the Western bank of the Mekong to the Laos border region.

Slow down for the Buffalo crossing

Chris , Angela, Graham and Sarah, Pauline taking the pic

This time the river was so low we could walk over the huge rocks and leap over the smaller cascades. Fun but difficult in sandals, the rocks were razor sharp.