Day 13 - Mekong Cruise Day 2

After a buffet breakfast this morning we boarded a traditional sampan boat for our first excursion on the banks of the Mekong. Your first stop was visiting a rice paper and coconut candy manufacturers to learn how these Vietnamese staples are made, Dad got to make some of the Pop Rice, which involved adding rice into a giant hot wok with sand in it, it began popping right away, they then quickly scooped it all up and threw it onto a sieve to sift all the sand back into the wok, Sand is used to increase the heat in order to pop the rice. We then looked at how they made the rice paper, essentially they used about 1kg of finely ground down rice with 2 litres of water to make a rice milk out of it, then over a silk cloth which is sitting over a area of steam, they put a layer of the mixture on top, cover it for about 30 seconds and that's enough for it to settle, they then pull that rice paper off the steam and let it sit on a woven bamboo mat for a few hours to dry out.

We got back on our sampan and then headed to visit Cai Be Catholic Church. Built in the Roman architectural style, the bell tower, with its set of four bells cast in France in 1931, is the tallest of all the churches in the Mekong Delta. To me it looks pretty small compared to a lot of other churches I've seen, so if this is the largest they have, then the rest must be pretty small. We headed back to the ship to refresh before sitting down to lunch whilst continuing to cruise to the town of Sa Dec. We had a bit of time before lunch so a few people including myself decided to hit the gym.

At around 3pm we got back on the sampan to head to explore a traditional Cao Dai temple, it was a very colourful temple. Caodaism is a uniquely Vietnamese religion that emerged in the 1920s in southern Vietnam. Officially founded in 1926 by Ngô Văn Chiêu, a civil servant who claimed to receive visions from a spiritual entity known as Cao Đài (“High Tower” or “High Palace”), it recognizes one universal God. The faith is an attempt to bring together all major world religions under a single belief system, while promoting harmony, peace, and compassion.

We then headed to a market in Sa Dec by foot, Dad enjoyed taking photos and could have happily spent another hour or so there just clicking away. I noticed a bunch of ducklings, at first I thought they were going to be someone's dinner, only to realise they sell them to people who let them grow and then use the eggs they produce, well at least I hope that's what happens with them. We then moved onto where French writer Marguerite Duras met her Vietnamese Chinese lover, Huynh Thuy Le. We got to tour his former home and learn the story behind Duras' best-selling novel, The Lover. After, Sail towards Tan Chau as dinner is served. This part didn't overly excite me, so I didn't really pay too much attention to what was said here.

We then made our way back to Serenity to have a drink or two while we relaxed before our evening briefing of tomorrow's trip, we were treated to our tour guide singing us a song called Hello Vietnam, originally that was write back in 1965, a pro Vietnam war song support the US Troops. In 2006 it was redone by a French singer called Phạm Quỳnh Anh, it was performed in a much different way and makes it more of a love song and song of personally connection to Vietnam. After our guide had sung it (without music) Tracey the receptionist came our and sang it, she did an amazing job, sounding a lot like the Phạm Quỳnh Anh version. I get the impression she likes her Karaoke, something they seem to like in Vietnam as well.

It was then onto dinner, everyone at our tablet decided to order the Spring Roll appetisers, everyone that was except for me... I decided to just get a grilled chicken for my appetiser and then have the same dinner that everyone else was getting.