The Adventurers of the Upper Mekong
Christophe Cousin
2010 - 52 min - HDCam - Couleur - France

On the upper Mekong between Vientiane, the capital, and the Chinese border, a thousand miles of eddies and rapids punctuate the stream. A thousand kilometres of history too, because it is thereabouts in the middle of somewhere or other, 40 meters deep, that a treasure is supposed to be buried: the treasure of the legendary French ship Lagrandière - a gunboat sent to explore the country in the 19th century.
Christophe Cousin has set off up the river, hunting for a golden Buddha. A trip in the footsteps of the adventurers of yesterday to meet those of today. In places there are only a few inches of water in the Mekong. The boats wait on the sandbanks. One day, without any particular warning, a captain bolder than the others announces his departure. We cast off…