We left our beautiful hotel at the Reverie Saigon and boarded our home away from home for the next 7 days, the Avalon Saigon.
Our cabin is lovely with floor to ceiling windows that open to let in air if we don’t want to have the a/c on.
Our cabin also had a beautiful live orchid.
Our day was spent cruising to Vinh Long. There were so many colorful boats on the river.
It’s quite crowded at points and at one stretch I thought we might run into a boat or two.
Breakfast and lunch on the Avalon Saigon is a buffet and dinner is seated dining. For dinner I had a shrimp dish.
Bruce had some sort of Vietnamese soup.
The sunset was beautiful but I missed it at its peak.
But I did manage to get a good shot of the full moon.
On our first full day aboard ship, we woke at 6:30 and I convinced Bruce to do a Tai Chi class. No one was an expert so it was a lot of fun.
We ate a small breakfast than headed out for our first shore excursion on a sampan where we were up close and personal with the river.
We visited a family owned business where they make rice paper, rice wine, and coconut candies. We were first shown the process of making rice paper.
They also make a snake wine which our fellow travelers said tasted like brandy. The snakes are put in the jug already dead.
They also made something that tasted like Rice Krispie treats. They used a very hot wok to cook the rice and then separate it.
The last but my favorite was coconut candy.
Than back in the Sampan and to the ship for lunch. In the afternoon we went to a village to see a boat builder.
The bridges in this community are called monkey bridge because the people had to climb like a monkey across the bridge to get to the other side.
We had a lovely guide but she did not speak any English.
The children were all so cute and happy to see us.
We rode in these carts pulled by motorbikes.
It was a fun ride and we stopped at a workshop where they made non-la hats or Vietnamese coned hats.
We drove on this little island called Cu Lao Gieng.
Our final stop was at Vietnam’s oldest Catholic Church.
Afterwards we headed back to our boat for dinner and a good nights rest.
A little girl contemplating life at the hat workshop.
Our sampan driver.
The Vietnamese think of their boats as living things so they should have eyes. That’s why so many of the boats appear to have eyes in the front.
And here are the four of us going out on the sampan.
And of course our tour guide Chung.
He was very knowledgeable about all that was Vietnamese.
Riding the carts through the jungle foliage. And of course one of the cart drivers.
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