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| A great shot near Soc Trang |
We go even further south and a bit east, 70 more km to Soc Trang. 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 it locked up. 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 Soc Trang. 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.
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