There is no actually significant
association of its name “Mekong” because the word is just a contracted form of
Thai and Lao language, mae nam (mother of waters) and Kong being its proper
name. These two contracted words, mae
nam, is used for any major river. In
fact the local people calls this in English as “River Kong”.
True, this river weaves through six Asian countries, supporting some 100 million people from
nearly indigenous and ethic groups. By the time its
waters leave China, where it is called the Lancang, they have already traversed
almost half the total length of the river and have plunged a dramatic 15,000 feet
[4,500 m]. The lower half of the Mekong drops only 1,600 feet
[500 m]. As a result, that stretch of the river is much more
sedate. Upon leaving China, the river forms the border between Myanmar and Laos
and much of the border between Laos and Thailand. It divides in Cambodia and
flows into Vietnam as two branches that fan out and empty into the South China
Sea.
However, its name does not connotes
anything of these kind, nor any idea that it is so powerful or so and so. It is just the common name in their native
tongue.
