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Published: October 16th 2022
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Yay, this morning I felt well enough to venture down to the dining room for a very light breakfast. Would I be feeling sufficiently recovered anyway or is it the drugs?! Whichever, I am glad.
Back in our room after breakfast we finalized our packing and then headed downstairs to check out about 10.10am expecting to be met my our Pandaw tour operator between 10.30-11.00am. We arrived at the front desk to find that the Pandaw staff had already set themselves up in the foyer. James greeted us all and saw us onto the coach when it arrived - at closer to 11.00am - and then handed us over to our Vietnamese guides, Mac and Giang, which he told us means ‘River’ in Vietnamese.
After not seeing any men urinating in public thus far, today was a day of open air peeing with the first one taking a leak just around the corner from the hotel. Eeuuw! Then it seemed like every second time I looked out the window during our coach ride it was to see another man taking a piss!
The rest of the journey to the river port at My Tho was uneventful although perhaps
noteworthy in that we travelled on a freeway that allows for speeds of 100km/hour. A speed which I think we may have actually achieved on a few occasions?? As we arrived in My Tho we were told that the name translates to Beautiful Girl City and was the home town of Vietnam’s second President.
When we reached the port we made our way straight onto the R.V. Bassac Pandaw which will be our home on the Mekong River for the next seven nights. With our suitcases stowed in our stateroom, we ventured down to the dining room for a buffet lunch. So much food, but still with very little appetite to do the spread justice.
After lunch we motored downstream for a short distance where we anchored off Ben Tre island. We were transferred from the boat to the island by sampan. On the island we were greeted with plates of fresh seasonal fruits – pineapple, lady finger banana, watermelon, rambutan and jackfruit - and honey tea. We were told the fruit should be eaten from the most sour first, the pineapple, clockwise around to the sweetest, the jackfruit. There were so many alarm bells going off in
my head the least of my worries was eating sourest to sweetest. I have gone from being a bit concerned about what I eat to pretty much totally paranoid. It’s not that I don’t like the taste of Vietnamese food, or trying new things, I’m just so worried about how safely it has been prepared??!!
After a short walk we boarded row boats for a slow journey through the bamboo covered canals that took us to a village that specialises in making local products, including coconut candy. After watching the candy being made we had another short walk before being met by tuk tuks that returned us to the sampan for our transfer back to the Bassac Pandaw.
Back on board we only had a short break before we were due in the Movie Room for our welcome and safety briefing. This should have taken place before lunch, but we were running a bit behind schedule so they fed us almost as soon as we arrived and deferred the briefing until before Pandaw Cocktail Hour. That may have been a mistake as some of the other passengers were a bit too keen to get to Cocktail Hour and
they were heckling the Purser to hurry the briefing along so they could move on to the bar.
So, right after the briefing finished Bernie declared that he is now feeling squeamish. Oh dear! The two of us certainly do not have cast iron stomachs. It seems the Gatts can only get to enjoy the company of one Gaffney at a time. Last night they dined with Bernie, tonight they got to dine with me! But first we enjoyed cocktail hour up on the sun deck. Tonight’s cocktail was a Blue Hawaiian which Cathy and Steve enjoyed. Our drinks were accompanied by a traditional Vietnamese musical and vocal ensemble who entertained us admirably until it was time to negotiate the steps down to the dining room.
Steps for the day: 6,172 (4.06km)
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