This will be two-blog day, things are so civilized here!!!
Early Morning Blog.
A great sleep after a buzzy day.
Early Morning Blog.
A great sleep after a buzzy day.
We have left Vietnam for a few days, but will re-enter it on the Mekong River again sometime next week, after we join the river boat Am Dora on Monday.
We have been away for six days but it seems like two weeks. We have done so much, seen so much and heard so much that it has been a blur. Thank heavens we do the blog and keep two journals so we will be able to look back and maybe remember some of it later.
A few comments if I may... We folk on this trip are a mixed group of Canadians and Americans, I have not met any others yet. [Maybe 40% Canadians???] A pleasant generally middle aged to elderly group, well travelled, I may be the oldest Fellette thinks. Some people had nightmare flights to get here, in economy, and were completely bedraggled for days. [I heard two discussions about trying to upgrade on the way home]. That is hard to do on such a trip.
Our Vietnamese Guide was great. We need to sort out propaganda, or bias, from reality, very hard to do. I do know that the workers, as a whole, are very industrious, they work hard, we see it in the city and the country. How the field workers do it I don't know. The rice fields stretched for miles and miles and that was what we could see from the main roads. Rice appears to be a very labour-intense product. They grow a non-exotic crop, that fetches a lower price so they are a large exporter of the crop.
I am sad to say that corruption and the search for status thrives here. An ambition is to drive a fancy car and play golf. I wonder if that is a good motive for a nation? Maybe, who am I to say? [Maybe I have been listening to the local guide too much.]
I am sad to say that corruption and the search for status thrives here. An ambition is to drive a fancy car and play golf. I wonder if that is a good motive for a nation? Maybe, who am I to say? [Maybe I have been listening to the local guide too much.]
They are, amazingly, a major exporter of coffee! Either No. 1, 2, 3, or 4, depending upon weather in other coffee-producing countries. Also, cashew nuts. You know, the jar of cashews at Costco that says processed in the USA? Vietnam exports bulk products so we do not see the Vietnam name on many of their food products.
Manufacturing: We drove by Samsung and Canon factories, new, that China, Korea and Taiwan to name three have moved their factories to Vietnam because of lower labour costs. You wonder why, Samsung hired 117,000 workers here alone. Don't blame trump for the decline of Canada or USA production, blame low-labour emerging countries. A factory worker in Vietnam at Samsung will make approx. $300 per month, close to what an employee at GM would make in a day!
General: We haven't even begun to start the real reason we are here, to do a boat trip down The Mekong. So far we have been on what they call, the Pre-cruise portion, gasp! And many of us are exhausted already! However, exhausted last night, refreshed and ready to tackle a new day and all the unexpected things that are bound to happen in a foreign land, guaranteed, that is why we travel.
We are absolutely delighted to be here, settled into a very luxurious base for three nights of quiet, immaculate high quality rooms and relaxing. We are sending in laundry today, a big sack full of every piece of clothing we have worn to date for $40,00. I believe that some things may be rather inexpensive here, I had a beer last night from the mini-bar for $3.50, strangely, no wine???
A downer: Fellette had a sore throat a couple of days ago and a runny nose today, she is taking a cold medication that masks the symptoms and we will keep to ourselves today as much as possible. The really bad news is that Doug will likely get it although the beds are humongous and I keep to my side of the fence. Doug seems to get a real nasty cold that settles in my throat and have these coughing spells that you would expect to hear in the Contagious Diseases Ward in a Calcutta Hospital, seriously!
A downer: Fellette had a sore throat a couple of days ago and a runny nose today, she is taking a cold medication that masks the symptoms and we will keep to ourselves today as much as possible. The really bad news is that Doug will likely get it although the beds are humongous and I keep to my side of the fence. Doug seems to get a real nasty cold that settles in my throat and have these coughing spells that you would expect to hear in the Contagious Diseases Ward in a Calcutta Hospital, seriously!
The walk to breakfast at 6:30 AM.
Still walking.
Breakfast.
Ama Waterways has a desk here, for the ship when we join Monday.
In the lobby.
Where we are. Like Maui only without the trade winds!
The tropics.
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