PANDAW

Meandering on the Mekong
Immerse yourself in Asian history and culture aboard Pandaw River Cruises.

By Heidi Sarna

When we reached the river bank and peered down at Orient Pandaw, its stubby bow nudged up against the muddy banks of the Mekong River, a smile stretched across my face. My friend Sue and I were in for some adventure. After taking many ocean cruises on giant resort ships, I was thrilled to be spending the week aboard a true original and in a still exotic part of the world where Starbucks and McDonald's don't exist.

Because we were traveling in March, during the relatively dry, low-water season, we couldn’t board the boat in Siem Reap, near the spectacular temples of Angkor Wat, but needed to travel south to a village along the southern edge of Tonle Sap Lake to board. The four-hour bus ride wound up being a great opportunity to see the countryside and small towns of Cambodia. During a quick bathroom break at a roadside restaurant, we were met by a bevy of local women selling snacks.

They tempted us with heaping trays of fried tarantulas, crickets, and frogs; practically everything is considered food in a country as poor as Cambodia.

When we got to the embarkation point, we hopped off the bus and walked along a dirt path down to the river bank to the 60-passenger Orient Pandaw.

The gangway was a wooden plank connecting the boat to the bank, where it was moored not to a concrete pylon or pier, but to the sturdy trunk of a tree. With the look of an old-time steamboat, minus the paddle wheel, the three main open-sided decks offer plenty of vantage points for sightseeing.

All built since 2002, Pandaw River Cruises' six 48- to 66-passenger boats are handsome replicas of the Irrawaddy Flotilla steamers that plied Burma’s Irrawaddy River a century ago.

While the two-year-old Orient Pandaw has a retro look with its teak wood and brass fittings, it’s equipped with modern creature comforts including roomy air-conditioned wood-paneled cabins that open directly to the outside promenade deck.

The windowed open-seating restaurant is configured with tables for eight and serves a combination of buffet-style and a la carte meals, from delicious Khmer fish curry to nasi goreng, glass noodles with pork and spicy beef salad, as well salads, pastas, cold cuts, cheese, fresh bread, and other continental staples for the predominantly European and North American passengers.

Honestly, who can even notice the difference?