Journey--down-the-Mekong-原文

JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONGPART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLANMy name is Wang since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taking a great bike years ago she bought an expensive mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy year, she visited our cousins, Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their college in are Dai and grew up in western Yunnan Province near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the river that is called the Mekong River in other Wei soon got them interested in cycling graduating from finally got the chance to take a bike asked my sister, "Where are we going" It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it she is planning our schedule for the trip.I am fond of my sister but she has one serious can be really she didn't know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip , I know that the proper way is always her kept asking her, "When are we leaving and when are we coming back" I asked her whether she had looked at a map course, she hadn' sister doesn't care about I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai gave me a determined look—the kind that said she would not change her I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres, she seemed to be excited about I told her the air would be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interesting know my sister she has made up her mind, nothing can change , I had to give in.Several months before our trip,Wang Wei and I went to the found a large atlas with good maps that showed details of world the atlas we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan first the river is small and the water is clear and it begins to move becomes rapids as it passes through deep valleys, travelling across western Yunnan the river becomes a waterfall and enters wide were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in it leaves China and the high altitude,the Mekong becomes wide，brown and it enters Southeast Asia, itspace makes wide bends or meanders through low valleys to the plains where rice last, the river delta enters the South China Sea.PART 2 A Night in the MountainsAlthough it was autumn, the snow was already beginning to fall in legs were so heavy and cold that they felt like blocks of you ever seen snowmen ride bicycles That's what we looked like! Along the way children dressed in long wool coats stopped to look at the late afternoon we found it was so cold that our water bottles , the lakes shone like glass in the setting sun and looked wonderful.Wang Wei rode in front of me as is very reliable and I knew I didn't need to encourage climb the mountains was hard work but as we looked around us, we were surprised by the seemed to be able to see for one point we were so high that we found ourselves cycling through we began going down the was great fun especially as it gradually became much the valleys colorful butterflies flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep eating green this point we had to change our caps, coats, gloves and trousers for T-shirts and shorts.In the early evening we always stop to make put up our tent and then we supper Wang Wei put her head down on her pillow and went to sleep but I stayed midnight the sky became clearer and the stars grew was so was almost no wind - only the flames of our fire for I lay beneath the stars I thought about how far we had already travelled.We will reach Dali in Yunnan Province soon, where our cousins Dao Wei and Yu Hang will join can hardly wait to see them!Part 3 chatting with a girlThe Mekong is the most important river in even appears on the national flag of the people use the river for washing, fishing, and transporting goods and people around the call the Mekong"the sea of Laos", but in Tibet people call it"the water of the rocks".If you follow the riverin Laos, you can visit temples, caves, and a night, you can sleep in small villages by the river.Part 4 Our Journey through LaosThe next day, we cross the border into were interested to learn that most of the western border of Laos is formed by the Mekong country also has the smallest number of people in Southeast there is plenty of space for villages and we cycled across the plains, we could see many low mountains covered in is the best time to travel weather was so cool and dry that it was very pleasant to ride alongside the river.On our third night, we slept in a small village on little pieces of village had no a few houses, however, we could see was very the small road near the village, we heard only one truck all , the river sounded like a man singing in a low next morning, we made an early start and travelled quite far before lunch..Along the way, strange buses called tuk-tuks passed lunch, we ate a special noodle lunch, we were tired, so we put our bikes on a bus going to Vientiane, the capital of cage of chickens sang to us all the way!Part 5 BY THE RIVER IN LOAOSAfter leaving noisy and crowded vientiane,we cycled on to the our way we saw an old man fishing on the stopped to talk to our hands together to greet him in the way of his smiled and moved his head down a he spoke to us.M=Man WK=Wang Kun WW=Wang WeiM: Good are you goingWK: We're travelling along the you tell us about life by the riverM: Well,it's changed a the past there were many snall villages along the fisherman caught many different kinds of fish and sold them.WW: Has life changed muchM: Er,the new dams made a difference to many people's villages disappeared and now manypeople live and work in the live a better life there,but Iprefer the old way of life along the river and I don't like the noise of the city because I am a good fisherman.WK: Do you catch many fishM: I catch enough for my family and I sell what's left over to other people.WW: That sounds else can you by the riverM: There are many different kinds of animals and plants as well as temples,caves and a 's a protected area so you can tell that it's very special.PART 6 THE END OF OUR JOURNEYCambodia was in many ways similar to Laos, although it has twice the another inn, we talked with a teacher who told us that half of the people in her country couldn't read or village couldn't even afford to build a school, so she had to teach outside under a large we said goodbye, we all felt very lucky to have studied in on the road, we passed between many hills and we came to the plains and entered Phnom Penh, the capital of many ways it looked like Vientiane and Ho Chi Minh City; it also had wide streets with trees in rows and old French Vientiane, ships could travel the Mekong River the centre of the city we visited the palace and saw a beautiful white can only be seen outside the palace on special ate an early supper and went to see a great temple with floors made of silver.The next morning our group slept were very tired from the long bike ride the day in the hills had been our cousins had the chance to make jokes about Wang Wei and , they said, they were the strong ones! We had lunch at a nice outdoor rode out of the days later we crossed the border into began to see many more people, but I wasn't read in an atlas before our trip that Vietnam has almost seven times the population of met a farmer who gave us directions and told us that he grows a new rice crop four times every year so he can feed more also told us that the northern part of his country has many mountains and it is much cooler than here in the south, where it is the flat delta made it easier for us to cycle, we got warm very we drank lotsof water and ate lots of the delta separated into nine smaller rivers.Two days later, after we had passed thousands of rice fields, we came to the were tired but also in high spirits: our dream to cycle along the Mekong River had finally come true.。