2002-02-09

Tha Ton, again

Morning on the Mekong river. The sun burns the fog away to reveal the scene in steps. First the mountains, then hills, then treetops and finally the Mekong itself.

Cargo boats on the Mekong.

There isn't a real dock. Each boat pulls up to the shore and lays out boards for gangplanks. I saw boats flying the flags of Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China.

Each worker carries three boxes and a stick. This man collects the sticks to keep count.

It was getting hot so I stopped to rest in the shade under a tin roof on raised poles where there were about a dozen dockworkers eating lunch. The man in this picture didn't speak any english but he approached and offered to share his lunch with me. They were eating sticky rice with beans wrapped in a paper-thin bamboo skin and rolled into a tube shape. He broke off a piece and held it out to me. It was quite good and I smiled and thanked him. One of the workers asked, "Where you from?" and I replied, "Seattle" but they did not understand so I said, "America" and they nodded and smiled. I tried to take a picture of the group but one of the men shook his head and waved his hands to indicate he didn't want his picture taken. I thought he must be from Laos and working on the dock illegally.

I can't get enough of the views.