Almost one year ago, 11-year-old Shanghai school girl and shutterbug Luo Yidan traveled with her mother and others along Southeast Asia's legendary Mekong River, touring sites in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. She especially watched the children.

 

 

Luo photographed her trip and celebrated her 11th birthday on the river last August. Now some of her photos are displayed at Room with a View -- the exhibit opened on International Children's Day, and her schoolmates and teachers all attended.

 

The Mekong River starts from China's Tibet Autonomous Region and the river within China is called the Lancang River; when it leaves China it is known as the Mekong River.

 

Luo and her party flew to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Then they went to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, where the Mekong flows into the ocean.

 

So they began in the south and traveled north by boat and vehicle.

 

They visited Vientiane and Louangphrabang in Laos and the world-famous ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia.

 

Luo took plenty of pictures of children, but unfortunately there seem to be more sad pictures and stories. "Basically I think their life is hard and poor," says Luo. "In Angkor I saw many kids, even younger than me, selling postcards to tourists under the hot sun.

 

"But in Phnom Penh I see kids playing and laughing happily. Especially on the river bank, I saw a girl of my age, with long hair and big bright eyes. Her smile is sweet in the sunset, and I think happiness is most important although she's clearly not from a wealthy family.

 

"Anyway, for me children my own age are more interesting," says Luo. "At the harbor in the city Sihanoukville, I see three children, one from China, one from the US, drifting in the surf on a big life preserver and talking about their hometowns, so happily."

 

Date: through June 8, 3-11PM

Address: 12/F, 479 Nanjing Rd E., Shanghai

Tel: 021-6352 0256

 

(Shanghai Daily June 4, 2007)