After Phnom Penh we continued our cruise down the Mekong. Crossing the border was easy as we had applied for visas at the embassy in Seoul. (Crossing into Vietnam takes a different visa than is required at the airports, but the cruise company had notified us of this.) The cruise agent handled all the passports and documentation for us, we never even had to leave the boat.
Continuing on, we visited a couple of local villages. The temples are beautiful, as always. Apologies for not keeping track of the temple names, but it hard to keep them all straight after a couple of weeks…
At one village we had a chance to sample some local products. Candy made from palm sugar, and puffed rice that was mixed with flavoring and palm sugar to make a type of crunchy “rice Krispie” bar. To puff the rice, sand is heated in a large metal pan with a little oil. The rice is added, and stirred until it has popped. It is then sieved to get rid of the sand.
They also had rice wine that we could try, along with an interesting variant- snake wine. To make snake wine, they fill a container with dozens of snakes, then pour in rice wine and let it sit for half a year or so. Mmmm-yummy! Actually, it tastes pretty horrible- about like what you’d expect. I thought it tasted like a skunky whiskey that had gone very bad, others thought it tasted like a really bad port. Deb missed out on this opportunity, as she stayed on the boat this day feeling under the weather. Fortunately, they took excellent care of her, even a visit from the head chef to see if he could fix her anything special.
Back on the boat, we had a nice time watching the world go by. We saw floating stores, dredging boats and fisherman. Sometimes houses lined the banks, or floating houseboats lined the shore. Other times, it was just rice fields and the occasional small shipping boat or fisherman.
In one of the medium sized towns we had a chance to walk through the local market. Compared to Cambodia, everything looked nicer and safer. (In terms of food safety) Meats generally weren’t on ice, but were very fresh. And seafood was usually kept in aerated and/or iced tubs. Deb and I would be fine picking up food there. A few images from the market:
Delivery of more veggies to the market.
Seafood
This little fellow was keeping a close eye on his owner’s purse.
And a small cafe/food stand in the market.
We also had a chance to go paddling down some of their canals. They provided us with these stylish hats!
At the end, we had a chance to sample ginseng tea and ginger candy, and meet the local boa constrictor.
We also had a chance to visit a bird sanctuary, where we got to take another peaceful paddle ride through the waterways surrounded by trees.
Saw many beautiful flowers during our trip, including these that couldn’t decide if they wanted to be pink or white.
And a lotus blossom, with a cone shaped seed pod above and to the left.
Many fruit trees as well- jackfruit is shown below. Very tasty, we first tried these in Kuala Lumpur.
Floating market. Boats will tie an example of whatever they are selling to the top of a long pole on the boat. Note also the outboard motor used by the boat on the right.
The Vĩnh Tràng Temple in My Tho, as we got closer to Saigon.
And they have a most impressive Buddha statue, and ornately manicured grounds.
A shorter cruise up a canal and through the river to Saigon, and our cruise was over. (Saigon and Ho Chi Minh city seem to be used interchangeably around the city) A couple of last cruising pictures, then the city itself.
Once we got to Saigon and said goodbye to our boat, we checked into our next rental, a nice apartment on the South side of the city. We spent about 10 days there, figuring that would give us enough time to see the highlights of the city before we escaped to cooler climates. The city was challenging to get around- Grab (similar to Uber) worked great for longer distances. A ride across the city was only a few dollars. (And a nice lunch for the two of us would run us 6 dollars.) Navigating the city by foot was quite the challenge, though. Motorbikes are everywhere- cars are taxed at a 200% rate, so aren’t as common. And the motorbikes don’t worry about the traffic lights- if there are any. A green walk signal means that cars will generally stop, but motorbikes will keep on going. The only way to cross most streets is to wait for lighter traffic, and head across the street at an even pace. The motorbikes will dodge around you as you go. And the sidewalks are often completely covered with parked bikes, requiring you to walk on the edges of the street. If the sidewalks are open, motorbikes will use them (or go the wrong way on a road lane) to get out of heavy traffic.One of the quieter streets is shown below- this neighborhood sold industrial equipment, and was fairly quiet on a weekday morning. Usable sidewalks made this walk easy!
With the high heat and humidity, and slow walking, we found it challenging to get around. Still we had a chance to see the Independence Palace, where the war room was for the South during the Vietnam war. (American war to them- makes sense) Below is a picture from the map room.
We also went to the war remnants museum, showing the history of the Vietnam (American) war. Certainly a biased version of what happened, but the victor gets to write the history. And our version of the war is certainly biased as well…
One of the things on the to do list was for Tim to get a haircut. Found what seemed to be a traditional style barbershop, and one of the guys even spoke a little English. In any case, I had my cell phone showing my desired haircut- which my barber referred to a couple of times during my 45 minute session. At the end, I had a great haircut, and the barber gestured that he would like to take a picture of the two of us. I said sure, as long as I could do the same.
A local art museum, a few nice restaurants, and walks around the city and we were ready to head on to Taipei. (and cooler weather!) See you soon.
