A beautiful morning, woke up to little children playing on the river bank by our cabin, such simple happy lives they display. We are in Prek K'dam and we only have one tour today, a very special one – we disembark for a 20 minute bus drive to Oudong Monastery where we attend a special Buddha Blessing.

Oudong was once the capital of Cambodia in 1618 after one of Phnom Penh’s many periods of abandonment, and remained the royal stronghold until King Norodom re-established the capital at Phnom Penh in 1865. It once boasted hundreds of buildings, temples and royal stupas, but most of these were destroyed in the early 1970’s when air strikes against Khmer Rouge fighters were based there. A few monasteries have survived, along with the funerary stupas of some the last kings.

The Monastery is the biggest in Cambodia and is called Vipassana Dhura. It serves as a Buddhist study centre and the buildings within the grounds are impressive. As soon as we arrive (with hats and shoes off), we walk up several steps to the main building of the Monastery and join a blessing ceremony chanted by Buddist Monks for 10 minutes. We have to sit in front of them with legs crossed or hidden, so our soles are not pointing to them. During the ceremony we bow our head with hands together and say – "sar to"  three times to accept the blessing, jasmine flowers soaked in water are thrown over us.   It’s a time to also think of others, I think about a work friend - brother, in hope he will get through a tragic accident I heard about the day before.

After the ceremony we walk around the grounds, of where the monks live, and what they do, day to day. We see the eating hall with the women in white, they are similar to nuns. To join the monastery there are five key things you have to abide by – No Killing, No Adultery, No Stealing, No Speaking Badly of People and No Bad Substance. There are many other rules like the wearing of orange, shaving the head, praying regularly, having only two meals a day etc, however you have to be able to able to abide by the 5 key areas before being accepted into the monastery.   You can be a monk – only men in this country - for as short or long period as you like, our guide was one for a month after his father passed away, to reflect, respect and mourn - his family worshipped Buddha, that is his religion.

We gather on the bus again for 45 minutes travelling through the countryside to Kampong Tralach, here we enjoy an oxcart ride – the most popular transportation in the countryside of Cambodia.   The farmers use the oxcart to harvest crops, carry hay, animals and family members.   Two persons per cart, there is over forty carts waiting for the group. There was a special technique of boarding from the back of the cart, Dad and I climbed aboard, it was a slow but fun way to travel through the rural countryside back to where the ship had moored.   On the way, the kids handed us flowers they had gathered for us, they also walked by the carts for a chat.  

Lunch is served, then Dad and I head to the sun deck for a swim in the pool, and a short rest on the deck chairs, the trip reminds me of the houseboat trip we have had on the Murray River, just different scenery and someone else doing the steering.   The ship is just motoring along at a gentle speed for us to see all the local homes and lives on the river. Such a peaceful afternoon as we sail towards Kampong Chhnang.

Other activities for the afternoon that are on offer, a documentary movie on the Angkor Wat History and a Fruit Show at the Pool Deck. Dad watched the movie as I had fallen asleep on the sun deck, then we both tried all the different fruits, custard apple, the smelly durian, sour sop, snake fruit, persimmon, etc at the fruit show.

After dinner, we were invited to a talent quest of all the river ship crew, a fun night had by all, it was nice to have a laugh with them.