A small step

A proud moment as I pose with my sapling on Koh Trong - we became very close in such a short time :-)

If you visit the island of Koh Trong, a few minutes by ferry from the Mekong River town of Kratie, you can make a small difference by joining a tree-planting scheme at one of the pagoda's on the island. It's an idea started about a decade ago by one of the island's inhabitants who wanted to reverse the trend of tree-felling that was happening all around him. It's got the full backing of the community, the locals play their part in the scheme, there's a caretaker for the area, which surrounds the pagoda at Wat Ty Param Kbal Koh Trong, and you can already see the fruits of earlier labours with large swathes of fledgling trees taking root. As part of the recent fam trip organised by the Mekong Discovery Trail team, each member of our group of 18 tour operators was given a small plot of soil, a sapling and a shovel. Fortunately the locals had done most of the spadework so our role was mostly symbolic though it was still hot and sweaty labour in the middle of the day, though enjoyable nonetheless. At the end of the exercise, each of us had planted a new tree - with a wooden stake bearing our name nearby - which will be monitored by the caretaker and where we can, if so inclined, return to check its progress in the future. A great idea to leave a small eco-friendly footprint from our visit.

A quick check of my sapling's roots to determine its survivability - I almost look as though I know what I'm doing

My sapling appears to be outgrowing its next-door neighbour already

Other group colleagues putting the effort into the tree-planting

The main vihear at Wat Ty Param Kbal Koh Trong, soon to be surrounded by fledgling trees

Fam trip team photo

My fam trip colleagues at the homestay on Koh Trong island. I'm in dark blue and glasses.

Just so that you know some of the faces that joined me on the 4-day fam trip along the Mekong Discovery Trail, here's a team photo, taken at a homestay-cum-excellent lunchtime venue on Koh Trong island yesterday. Koh Trong sits in the middle of the Mekong River, directly opposite the Kratie riverfront. More later from the island visit itself, suffice to say that it was a very enjoyable trip, the villagers were ultra friendly, the food was excellent and the homestay had a western loo, shower and proper beds, which is a real result. I won't name the individual members of the trip shown on the team photo, as most of them are tour operator rivals to Hanuman (wink), though included in the picture is Bun Ban, the community leader, as well as the lady owner of the homestay (in red).

I'm being presented with my gift of a pomelo by the lovely Sovanna, daughter of the homestay owner