October 28 Cai Be

 We woke to a beautiful morning in Cai Be. 

After breakfast we were ferried to the first Catholic Church in Vietnam,  built by the French in the 19th century. 

 

Cai Be Church

We then  visited two places that made rice wine and venom based medicines as well as growing pythons for their skin and their fat which is made into ointment

Python in a cage

Snake skin purse

Popping rice to make candy

October 27 2026, Mekong River Cruise

 After a 2 hour bus trip from Ho Chi Minh City we boarded our cruise boat, had a pleasant lunch then relaxed before setting off in the late afternoon, upriver towards Phnom Penh. The Mekong River here is over 1km wide with two road bridges spanning it. Over the border in Cambodia the river is over 3km wide. The water is brown, a bit like the Yarra, and when it floods provides very fertile land for growing rice and tropical fruits, as well as various exotic fruits brought in by the French in the 19th century.

One of the bridges across the Mekong south west of Ho Chi Minh City

Sailing into the sunset