Mekong River Cruise Day 2

Day 2, December 12

Coffee and tea were served at 6:30am and breakfast at 7:30am then we disembark for a tour of a brick factory and a bike trip through town. This river is not quiet or calm in the morning because that is when the fishing is best and the river is filled with fishing boats of all sizes motoring up and down the river. Yet there was something peaceful about all the activity.

Sunrise off the stern

The first stop - brick factory. It was was facinating. We watched all the stages of making brick tiles and even jumped in to help a time or two. I don't know what it is about back breaking, sweat producing, physical labor but when I see it happening I want to join in. Weird I know, but I couldn't resist the urge. I offered to haul a cart of bricks over to the area to let them dry in the sun. I was surprised as to how light the cart felt even though it was filled with "a ton of bricks". The engineering on that homemade cart was perfect. Taylor helped load wet bricks onto the conveyer belt cutter and later helped stoke the fire of one of four kilns.


Loading wet bricks onto the trimmer




The brick factory

 





Stoking the fire in the kiln.
Bricks bake for three months.
Round the clock fire tending.
Fire is fed with rice husks.

Ahhh, physical labor.



 

Love bikes.



From there we hopped on our bikes for a trip further through Sa Dec in a different direction than the market we visited last night.Our first stop was to a temple of the Cao Dai religion. Cao Dai is the invention of a civil servant from India that combines "the best attributes" of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Christianity into one religion that worships God's left eye. The French author Victor Hugo was even named as a saint even though he didn't endorse this belief system. Cao Dai is the third largest religion in Vietnam behind Buddhism and Catholicism.

The entire temple was alive in Technicolor enhanced by neon wings around God's left eye and dragons coiling up the eight support pillars. Even though the whole belief system is a little off the decor was bright and beautiful.

Cao Dai Temple

From there we rode our bikes through a "local flower village". Everyone who lives in this village has an incredible green thumb and produces most of the regions flowers, plants and trees both fruit and decorative. The village sits on the banks of river and has gravel road no wider than our bike paths winding through the gardens.

Since New Years is around the corner, both calendar and lunar, and flowers are an integral part of their celebrations, the gardeners were busy transplanting their inventory in hand-made bamboo baskets and loading them on trucks or boats headed for market. It was a busy scene.

Leaving the beautiful, fragrant flower village behind we headed back to the boat for lunch and relaxation. And, were once again greeted with fresh lemonade and a cool wash cloth to wipe away the sweat.

The thing I like best about our outings during the day on this cruise is that we are not sopping at compulsory tourist traps but getting a glimpse into real, local, don't see many Westerners, Vietnamese living.

Sa Dec from our boat.