Bamboo Tangle

It is rarely a dull day on the Mekong. During the night, a tangled web of bamboo hung up on the anchor line. Fortunately, no damage was done. The ship moved a little but the gangway was pulled up because of the strong winds, so no damage. With most of the crew gone for the weekend, Rick and I and Hai worked to cut away some of the bamboo. But it was so thick we could not free it from the cable. With night falling, we waited for the next day. Two villagers decided to help us from their wooden boat. As soon as they cut away the bulk of the bamboo, another mess of bamboo came floating by and hung up on what was left. So it was finally decided to move the ship and tie the mess to land hoping it would allow the anchor cable to be pulled up. It worked. Hai and Piseth were able to cut it away. This is the first time for this to happen. Hai informed us that this year there is more floating debris because of the land falling into the water and pulling bamboo plants in with it. We can’t argue with that, however, we think that erosion is always happening along the river. gail