Day 13 February 18 Cruising: Sa Dec–Cai Be
This morning, board a sampan and enjoy scenes of daily life along the river around Sa Dec.
Stop at a BRICK FACTORY to see workers forming the clay bricks that fill the local landscape. Here you will also learn about the importance of the rice husk in fueling the brick kilns.
This was more interesting than I thought it would be.
Exiting the sampan.
The grandmother was boiling a pig's head for New Year's.
Next, visit the ancient HOUSE OF MR. HUYNH THUY LE, the lover of French novelist Marguerite Duras and inspiration for the film L’Amant (The Lover), directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.
Afterward, take a walk through the LOCAL MARKET and absorb the atmosphere as locals are busy buying and selling fish, meat, and produce.
The "wet" market was so busy this morning.
Now this was interesting. It is New Year's Eve so everyone is doing their final shopping. The market is only open until mid afternoon.
We are divided into teams. John and I, Anni and Lindsay and another couple I can't remember.
We were given a shopping list of 5 items in Vietnamese and $10,000 dong (5o cents!!) to find these items.
We made our list using our anglicized version of what we heard.
We wandered and asked in our bad Vietnamese for items and the vendor started putting the stuff into a bag, however we didn't have enough money for those quantities. Trying to explain that we only wanted a little of each item was difficult so I asked the woman beside me if she spoke English and she helped us get three of the items, also asked her to strike off the items we had gotten.
The next two items were more difficult, we ended up with a banana (as did all the teams) which was not on the list.
It was a lot of fun, we got 4 out of five items but we got an extra point for coming back with some change!!
After lunch, board a sampan for a scenic cruise though Cai Be Harbor, passing the city’s beautiful French Gothic cathedral.
John had a scratchy throat and opted to stay on board, funney, so did several other husbands.
So we are back on our sampan.
First stop is a local establishment to see how rice paper, rice wine, and traditional candies are made.
The locals live and work in the same area. Clothes ready for the New Year.
Sausages and a bra.
Making rice paper, it so so thin it is a wonder she can pick it up to dry.
Snake wine.
Candy making
Popcorn
Some shopping
Lastly, take a walk through town to visit the beautiful CATHEDRAL.
Back to the boat by sampan.
During cocktail hour the crew were presented to thank us for choosing Avalon.
The cathedral is magnificent, and I really like those brick kilns.
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