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Published: April 4th 2023
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We had a full day of splendid sailing after departing Phnom Penh. Sailing the Mekong River during daylight was one of the highlights of this trip. We watched life on the Mekong with its many villages, temples, farmlands and we even spotted a reclining Golden Buddha near the shores. We captured a lovely sunset photo featuring a red sun! We had a long delay at the Vietnamese Border, I presume due to Vietnamese border issues. We didn't plan our trip very well as we started in Vietnam, flew to Cambodia then returned to Vietnam on the cruise. As a result, the Vietnamese embassy made us pay for 2 visas (one time entry only) which set us back about $900! So plan to do Vietnam in a one time, one month visit or you will pay the government dearly!
That evening we treated ourselves and dined at the specialty restaurant, the Chef's table for a decadent meal followed by the dining staff performing in full traditional Vietnamese outfits complete with the memorable cone hats! Next day, Darold and I sang happy birthday to "Sky", one of our lovely dining servers who shyly removed her mask to reveal her lovely
face. She announced that she was turning 44 but I'd swear she was 22!
In Vietnam, we first stopped in Tan Chau where we got to ride in the passenger tricycles along the river where you can see the star flag of Vietnam hung as a banner. We stopped into a Vietnamese Silk factory that was famous for its satiny smooth black silk (see in the upper right corner of the picture below with the weaving machine in the background).
Next stop a Ratten factory where they made the colourful Ratten mats. In the photos below you can see them weaving the coloured reeds, dying them over a wood fire, and a picture of Darold's feet where he met 2 new friends!!!
We then travelled in a boat passing the floating warehouses to a Vietnamese Village on the canals. The canals have about a 6 foot tide and you can see a boat stranded at low tide as well as life on the Canal in the various sized boats. We walked into the village filled with fields of corn, vegetables and other crops. The houses were on stilts both for the
potential floods that occur but like the Cambodian village, a cool place to spend the day in the hot sun!
We were greeted by a farmer who was a South Vietnamese soldier and veteran. He told us of life after the war and how thankful he was to the Americans who saved his life by transporting him in a helicopter when he was wounded. We sat like school children in the cool lower part of the house (you can see "Ma" leaning over where Darold is sitting intently listening to "Pa"). "Pa" became a farmer after the war as the south Vietnamese who fought with the Americans had little options for careers. To this day (our South Vietnamese guide told us) that anyone that was associated with the South Vietnamese during the war can still not get a government job and that they look back 3 generations on both sides to see if anyone was associated with their "enemy" in 1975!
"Pa" was so gracious. He greeted us individually as we entered the upstairs of his home. He had tears in his eyes when he went to shake my hand, and he kissed it
instead! I felt like a hypocrite but didn't tell him I was Canadian. Their home was similar to the Cambodian village homes that we saw but this was much more modern with more modern appliances. The ancestor alter was there (with a TV though) and "Ma" in her kitchen had a lot more cooking pots and pans and appliances. The teenage daughter sat in the hammock on her iPhone! "Pa" said that they sold a cow from their "Bank" at the back (they had a shelter for the animals) every time one of his children went to university. He had 3 children graduate, if I recall correctly.
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