Goodbye from Vietnam (Mekong Cruise Part 2)

Actually, we thought we would take a very relaxed cruise with relaxation and leisure on the sundeck. But now we realized that a quite extensive program was offered, where we only came back to the ship briefly for meals.

In the morning of the second day, we set off early for Gao Giong. There we rode a rowboat through a small river surrounded by eucalyptus forests.

We were able to see various native birds here, especially the Silver Breasted Broadbill. This large silver-black bird belongs to the stork family.

We could see their nests on the trees by the river with quite large young birds.

In the afternoon, we landed on Con Phuoc Island, which is influenced by Catholicism. There, we first saw local craftsmen producing furniture, some of which were decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays.

We then continued on motorbike trailers to an elementary school. We were warmly welcomed by the children, whose English skills did not go beyond "Hello".

We also visited a large Catholic church built in 2011. Here, a large statue commemorated the first Vietnamese martyr.

Afterwards, we went to an over 80-year-old lady who makes baskets out of bamboo. We were allowed to see the production and also her private house, which she kindly showed us around.

Our last stop was a mango plantation, where we were shown how to breed mangoes in different colors. You just have to put them in a dark or light paper bag while they ripen on the tree. Depending on the paper bag, they turn yellow, red, or green. The first two colors sell better on the Korean or Chinese market, which is why they are bred that way. This does not affect the taste, as we were able to confirm afterwards.

On the next day, we had time to relax in the afternoon, as we were then crossing the border to Cambodia.

In the morning, however, we went through the canals of Tan Chau, where we visited a fish farm. We saw how the fish were fed, bringing a lot of movement to the water.
But we were glad when we continued because it smelled really bad.

With the Sampan Boat that took us on our excursions, we then continued to a Taoist temple.

Those who wanted could also shake a chopstick box until a chopstick fell out. On it was a number, for which one could get a slip of paper with their destiny - unfortunately written in Chinese. However, our tour guide looked up the numbers in a book and translated from the Vietnamese version into English. Most of the predictions revolved around possible pregnancies - which was not relevant anymore given the age of the travel group...

Finally, we went to a farm where herbs were grown. After a short walk through the fields, we returned to the ship.