On the Amazing Mekong

top deck and dining room of The Authentic Mekong

sunrise on the Mekong-back deck

Where do I start?? The Mekong is the life blood of most of S.E. Asian nations and right now is brimming with traffic. Business is about trade and movement and there are any number of boats going up and down the river at all hours of the day. There are also tons of diversions in the river, so basically it never ever is the same-twisting and turning and changing through Monsoon and other natural causes.

I had the best time on the River and it was a welcome break from Ho Chi Minh City. It occurred to me one night in HCMC as I was sitting in a funky restaurant/beer garden on some busy street, that no matter what time of day, if you look at the sky-you can't see the sun in the day for the pollution, nor the stars at night. Anyway, back to the River....

I was driven to a little teensy town called Cait Be about 3 hours drive from HCMC. I was met by this charming young man- Luin -who was my guide for 2 days. We did a couple of detours at the obligatory "crafts market" and to an old Chinese house on the River, and then got to the boat, which was GORGEOUS! All wood and bamboo and charming. I was the ONLY passenger- so I had 5 Vietnamese boys waiting on me for two days [which was nice and sorta weird at the same time]. Snaps of the boat below:

My bedroom

 

The highlight of the boat trip and there were a few wonderful moments, was a bike ride in a Village called Cho Lach- lots of children yelling out HELLO as we slid down the road...on a no-gear bike- which was actually real, not stationary and without my usual copious amounts of bum padding and heart pounding music- riding a REAL bike is so different than a stationary one- it was good to be reminded. Might get one for back home.

Luin was lovely and very intelligent and a real go getter. He made sure I was well taken care of even after we left each others company.

Other highlights included the hour foot massage after the bike ride, the floating markets in Can Tho and a trip to an orchard outside Can Tho. Below are Luin and I on the last day- next Cambodia!

riding a real bike!



Luin [he's on the right] & Me-sayingG'Day!