Ronnie's day on the Mekong River (Saigon, Vietnam)

Today is day 135 of our 180 trip around the world, meaning we only have about 6 weeks of our 6 month trip left. We are holding up great, although we do miss home and friends.

Yesterday we were docked in Saigon (formerly Ho Chi Minh City). I enjoyed a lazy day on the ship, which was exactly what I needed. As I previously mentioned, a friend invited Ronnie to join him on his all day excursion because his wife was laying off for the day as well.

Perhaps you're wondering how I can blog on something I didn’t even see? Well, I have the tour description, plus Ronnie took lots of pictures for me. So…I can share a little bit about what they did, even though I didn’t experience any of it myself. 

Their excursion was called “Mekong River Delta” and it was a 7.5 hour tour. It began with an hour 45 minute drive to the Mekong River, stopping to eat at a restaurant where they were served whole butterfly fish for lunch. It didn't look too appetizing to me but Ronnie said it tasted o.k. 

Thanks to Ronnie for sharing his day with us and taking so many photos for me to choose from. All but the last batch at bottom are his.

Mekong Rest Stop

people taking pictures of the fish

butterfly fish - what can I say?

From there they were taken to the Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda. The pagoda sits on approximately 5 acres of manicured gardens. I’ll include a few of the photos from there, including the 3 four-story high Buddhas that sit on the property (like I said earlier, we're just about  "buddha'd out!)

 

Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

temple entrance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ronnie reclining in front of Reclining Buddha

Standing Buddha (on lotus base)

Laughing Buddha

From the pagoda, they were driven to a boat pier for a ride down the Mekong River. They stopped at an island fishing village where they saw the honeybees and were offered a mixture of royal jelly, honey and hot tea and given a long list of ailments that this tea will cure. 

 

explaining bee keeping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

making royal jelly tea

 

They walked to another restaurant where they observed (and tasted) candy being made with each piece being separately hand wrapped. They walked more trails to yet another restaurant where they were offered local fruits (I'm proud of Ronnie was tasting jack fruit and passion fruit). Some entertainers sang to them and then it was back to the boat. 

 

coconut and peanut in candy base

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

each piece being wrapped by hand

 

At some point they boarded some sampans to ride down a small canal. I love the sampan photos! Then it was back to the regular boats that took them to the bus for the drive back to the port. 

 

 

 

 

So there was lots of bus time to look out the window and observe the Vietnamese people as they carry on their everyday life. First of all, there are 10 million people living in Saigon and there are 5 million motorcycles. So you can imagine what the streets look like with that many motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic! 

Also, it is absolutely amazing how much they can carry on a motorcycle. HUGE amounts that you can't even imagine and sometimes even animals (we saw this during our stay in Indonesia as well). And what if you have a family but only one motorcycle? The more the merrier! Even babies and young children ride with their parents. I think I mentioned that I saw a family in Africa where the mother sat behind the father with a baby strapped on her back (with the fabric sling-like wraps they use). Yikes! The photos below are quite typical. Lastly, many of the women are covered from head to toe. Long dress, long sleeves, head coverings and masks. Many wear masks here, possibly for protection from Covid, pollution or both.

from yesterday but I've seen much worse in Hanoi

family of 4

that's a load

kid standing up?

family outing

keep in mind it is HOT here!

another load

one must be 16 years old to get license for small bike, 18 for larger

1,2,3,4,5

 

 

wherever we go, he goes

 

Probably overkill, but you get the point that multiple persons sharing a motor bike is nothing out of the ordinary.

Lastly, I'll post a few that I took coming into Saigon and after docking. 

 

Elisa - a beautiful wooden ship docked in front of the Insignia

lots of green foliage constantly floating past

heading up Long Tai River from South China Sea into Saigon

view from balcony on starboard side

My last is a short video of one of the party boats that move up and down the Saoi Rap River (taken from our balcony in port).

 

We didn’t have anything planned for this morning and boarding time was 2 pm so we opted to stay onboard again today. Shortly after our departure at 3 p.m. there was a very nice Memorial Day service on board. Ronnie asked our cruise director if he could read the names of his friends killed here in Vietnam. She thought it was a good idea, so he, along with others stood and mentioned the names of friends who were killed here in Vietnam.