The first visually striking image this morning is of the small, but loyal group of Tai Chi devotees following their teacher Mr. Voant, our cruise manager, against the backdrop of the sunrise. Our surroundings are still hazy, perhaps a combination of the rising temperatures in this waterscape and numerous early morning fires used for cooking breakfast.
Our morning excursion takes us by covered sampan boats to Binh Thanh Island. We hear about and can see with our own eyes the erosion of the embankments caused by the daily tides and the flooding, which occurs every year from September to November. The way to the island takes us past numerous small scale fish farms of red tilapia. They must have just been fed as a sea of moving reddish shapes can still be seen. Just as we near the island, the local ferry carrying passengers and motorbikes, casts off. It costs only 1000 dong or 5 cents for a foot passenger. At leisure we slowly stroll past houses observing and then trying our hand at the local cottage industry of making sage grass sleeping mats. Pairs of two ladies are quite adept at weaving the mats with simple tools.
At the recently restored local community temple, dedicated to the guardian spirit, we meet two of the community members in their 70s, who are very pleased to welcome us, share some of their experiences of island life and answer our questions.
Sailing further down in the Mekong Delta, we leave the Jahan for our last visit with the sampan boats of the trading hub of Cai Be with its floating wholesale market of produce. The whole area is full of movement with people engaged in various activities. The tall spire of the French built Catholic Church, dominates this scene.
For the next hour we experience the ingenuity of people of what one can do with a few basic ingredients, such as rice and coconut. Rice has multiple uses, besides being the main staple used in multiple dishes, it can be made into rice flower to produce thin wraps for salads. The rice husks are used for fuel, the nutritious rice bran is used as animal feed. Using hot sand rice can be popped and mixed with malt sugar and nuts, made into a kind of crispy snacks. Cooked rice with yeast can be made into a potent rice wine. Grated fresh coconut, abundantly available, is squeezed to get the juice used in the creation of sticky candy.
After we returned to the Jahan, we picked up speed for the final 25 miles down the Mekong to our final destination My Tho. Cocktail hour at sunset on the Mekong, lively music and a final view of the complete Jahan staff from sailors, engineers, hotel and restaurant staff, guides and of course last, but not least our very able captain. Our beautiful journey from Cambodia down into Vietnam along the Mekong on the Jahan has come to an end, but we still have two more nights in Ho Chi Minh city, aka Saigon.
