Mekong River cruise, Cambodia: Flickers of hope along the Mekong

By Nina Karnikowski
Updated December 8 2016 - 1:14pm, first published December 4 2016 - 12:15am
The elegant RV Mekong Pandaw has timber-lined, airconditioned cabins that provide relief from the hot Cambodian sun. Photo: Nina Karnikowski
The elegant RV Mekong Pandaw has timber-lined, airconditioned cabins that provide relief from the hot Cambodian sun. Photo: Nina Karnikowski
A woman in the riverside town of Chhlong in Cambodia prepares food for passengers of the cruise. Photo: Nina Karnikowski
A woman in the riverside town of Chhlong in Cambodia prepares food for passengers of the cruise. Photo: Nina Karnikowski
Local children playing outside a store. Photo: Nina Karnikowski
Local children playing outside a store. Photo: Nina Karnikowski
House on stilts, Cambodia River Cruise on the RV Mekong Pandaw. Photo: Nina Karnikowski
House on stilts, Cambodia River Cruise on the RV Mekong Pandaw. Photo: Nina Karnikowski

In a country of beautiful smiles, where the ability to keep smiling has been tested more brutally than almost anywhere on earth, this Cambodian woman has a spectacular smile. With her light brown skin, dark bobbed hair and faded floral T-shirt, her gold-capped grin widens across her face, in defiance of the shocking realities of Pol Pot's brutal regime she has no doubt borne witness to in her 50-something years, and perhaps also in hope of a better future.

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