April 10-12
Hi All,
We left the Sheraton hotel and took a 1.5 hour bus ride through Saigon to the Mekong Delta to meet our ship, RV AmaLotus. Thang, our guide for the next 3 days, told us many stories and facts about the Mekong Delta. We have now been told by several people they prefer the City be referred to as Saigon. Evidently Ho Chi Minh is becoming less revered as time goes on. It is still required by every citizen to visit his mausoleum in Hanoi once a lifetime, but the younger generation is hesitating to do so….curious!!!
Wow……the RV Amalotus is quite a ship and our “owners suite” is…..well, very luxurious, a 2 room suite……as Kathy said…she can do this for a week!!! If you look at this website on the ship, we are on the 3rd floor, starboard side, up by the bow……..which is next to the wheelhouse, and they allow you to go in or observe while they are underway……quite a treat for us to be on a cruise on “someone elses boat”:))))
http://www.aptouring.com/why-choose-apt/our-fleet/vietnam-and-cambodia-amalotus
We picked up the ship at My Tho and traveled to Cai Be where we anchored in the middle of the river overnight!
“Southern Vietnam covers the Mekong Delta, the extreme southern end of the Mekong River, and the area around Saigon, Vietnam. As all deltas, it receives the bounty of the siltation from the upper Mekong, and as such is a very rich and lush area, covered with rice fields. It produces about half of the total of Vietnam’s agricultural output (in fact the delta produces more rice than Korea and Japan altogether and is the #3 exporter of rice behind India andThailand), and is the place for timeless sceneries of farmers planting or harvesting rice. The Mekong splits in Cambodia into two main rivers, the Bassac (Hậu Giang) and the First river (Tiền Giang), then in Vietnam into a more complex system, creating a maze of small canals, rivers and arroyos interspersed with villages and floating markets.”
The longest river in Southeast Asia and the 12th longest on earth, the Mekong River journeys over 2700 miles from the Tibetan Plateau to the southeast, through Laos and Thailand to the equatorial flood plains of Cambodia and Vietnam, then finally flows into the South China Sea. Two thousand years of human history flow along the Mekong River. It is said that the rise and fall of the great Khmer civilization responsible for the building of Angkor Wat was inextricably linked to the Mekong’s shifting tides. Today, around 60 million people live, work and play on the Mekong. Fish from the river comprise Cambodia’s single largest source of protein and it is rightly called the rice bowl of Vietnam, as it is on the fertile lands of the Mekong River Delta that the Vietnamese people grow half their nation’s agricultural product. The Mekong River is also a hub for Vietnamese culture and a major transportation route for villagers living in the Delta. From floating markets selling fish, coconut candy, tropical fruit, vegetables and flowers to bee farms that line the river, the Mekong throbs from before sunrise to after dark with vital economic activity.
In appreciation of its shared importance, the governments of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam signed an Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin in April 1995 that created The Mekong River Commission to jointly promote sustainable use and protection of the river. However in 2010, Laos announced plans to build the Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River. Despite ongoing opposition from Cambodia and Vietnam, in 2012, Laos and Thailand decided to proceed with the dam. Laos has also begun preliminary work on a second Mekong hydropower project, the Don Sahong Dam. Environmentalists and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) warn that both projects could ultimately damage the Mekong River and adversely affect the millions of people who live along it. Already the Mekong River Irrawaddy Dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is on the World Wildlife Fund’s list of endangered species.”
The next day we toured Cai Be in the morning and Sa Dec in the afternoon. In Cai Be we went to a floating market…..”the river market is still the principal attraction on a boat tour from Vinh Long, though it has shrunk considerably due to the building of bridges in the delta and the subsequent transportation of goods by road rather than river.” From there we went to a coconut factory where they made various candies and coconut treats. We drank the wine made from various things…..like snakes…..actually quite good and good for virility….ask Kathy:)))))
In the afternoon we toured Sa Dec…….toured a local market and a local temple…..”The drowsy former capital of Dong Thap province, Sa Dec is a comparatively peaceful city of tree-lined streets and fading colonial villas, ringed with orchards and flower markets. You can visit the nurseries lining the river and the town is particularly famous for its roses; the best time to visit is just before Tet, to watch a riot of flowers loaded onto boats.
The town’s biggest attraction (though it’ll only take up about 20 minutes of your time) is the Huynh Thuy Le Old House, a wonderfully atmospheric 1895 residence on the riverfront that was once the residence of Huynh Thuy Le, the 27-year-old son of a rich Chinese family who Marguerite Duras had an affair with in 1929 when she was only 15 – she immortalised the romance in the semi-autobiographical novel, The Lover, which was eventually made into a film by Jean-Jacques Annaud. The house is a Sino-French design with intricate interior woodwork, mother-of-pearl inlaid doors, heavy wooden furniture and original floor tiles, made in France. In the entrance hall there are photos of the Le family, as well as those of Marguerite Duras herself, and stills from the film.”
We had not heard about the movie, “The Lover”, but they have it onboard so we bought a copy…..shall be interesting to watch!! The market itself was quite large and we were surprised by the quantity and quality of the produce and seafood!!! We also went to another Buddha Temple!!
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM: Day 6, Wednesday, April 12:
This is our last day in VN……we cross over into Cambodia later tonight. That morning we toured Tan Chau, another quaint river community. We did 2 rickshaw rides…..first to a silk factory……fascinating and bought several items for ourselves and gifts…..then back on the rickshaw to rattan mat factory…….again very interesting watching the various mat making process…..and more gifts!!!
“Not only for legends and remains, Tan Chau silk village in An Giang is also famous for the brilliant past of a special craft village. Tan Chau silk has its fame because of the softness, toughness, long-wearing and high absorbability of natural silk material. All clothes made from Tan Chau silk bring to people comfort, coolness in summer, warmness in winter. Tan Chau silk is deserved to be called “Queen” of silk.”
Later on that day back onboard we attended a cooking class….learned how to make fresh spring rolls and the rice noodle soup…..called Pho!! Later we went to an ice cream social…..hmmm, thought it was going to be homemade but no……several flavors from Australia, Thailand and New Zealand…..not too bad!!!
So that ends our time in Vietnam……very impressive country……clean, happy, prosperous…..it indeed was a delight seeing how well this country has developed since the War!!!
Hope all is well!
John
Mekong Delta Vietnam
PS: Pictures on the website: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Mekong-Delta
