Traveling Along the Mekong Delta River
"You can never step in the same river twice", as the saying goes. Asia's third longest watercourse (after the Yangtze and Yellow rivers of China), the Mekong, which originates in the Tibetan plateau at an elevation of 5500m, changes dramatically as it winds it way down through six nations to empty in the East Sea. I have never followed the entire length of this great river, although I have visited many portions of it at different times. Langcang Jiang is the Chinese name for the Mekong. Flowing for 1826 km through the country, this is the narrowest, steepest and wildest part of the river. In China, it is known as one of the three parallel rivers - though one of the other two, the famous Chang Jiang, nonetheless breaks the tacit commitment by making a sudden turn at Shiguzhen near Lijang to flow west-east, traveling the entire length of the Middle Empire to North China Sea. The other two continue their north-south course, and in the case of Langcang Jiang, flows to the L...