Day 9 – Relaxing down the Mekong, Gao Giong
We lifted anchor at 7 am, and once again, I was already awake when the chains rolled up under the front of the ship. Kirsten and I found some yoga mats in the cabin, so I connected to the Wifi and downloaded a workout on YouTube. With lots of time in the morning, it was an opportunity to get a bit of exercise. After all the buffet breakfasts and multiple-course meals for lunch and dinner, it will catch up to me if I don’t keep up with my fitness.
For breakfast, I enjoyed some muslix with fresh cashews and raisins while I waited for my ordered banana pancakes. I’m eating way too well.
Following breakfast, the sun peeked out for a short while, so Kirsten and I chilled out on the top deck to enjoy some of the sunshine. At 10 am, I headed down to the bottom deck to watch a presentation on the history of Vietnam. It was interesting to learn about the past 100 years of history in this part of the world.
We continued down the Mekong River through lunchtime, enjoying another delicious meal, including my main course choice of Jumbo Prawns. For each lunch and dinner, there is a main entree choice from 3 dishes.
Our afternoon excursion was 3 and a half hours long. We disembarked the ship and were taken by a smaller boat for a kilometer or two up a tributary river. It glided past old boat homes along the shorelines and houses on stilts over the water’s edge. A few people were fishing while perched on their small boats.
Two small minivans were waiting for us when we arrived on shore. They took us down narrow streets on a 30-minute drive past a small village and along a bamboo-lined road wide enough for only one person. The scenic drive past green vegetation and rice fields brought us to Gao Giong “Green Oasis”. This 1000-acre eucalyptus forest is a wildlife sanctuary that has several trails throughout. After sampling some tea and roasted lotus flowers, we walked to a narrow canal where several ladies were waiting to paddle us through the channel. We silently glided along past bamboo, eucalyptus, and grasses growing along the canal. There was plenty of bird and other animal sounds around us throughout the 1 to 2-mile paddle. Periodically we could see birds nesting in the tops of the trees, and at one time, we even saw a monkey peering down at us. It was a very peaceful paddle with only 4 of us in the boat.
On our way back to the ship, we drove through some larger villages as kids were getting out of school. In this part of Vietnam, there are very few cars and trucks. Most people get around on motorcycles and scooters all over the road. We even saw a man with 3 children on his scooter returning from school. Our riverboat had repositioned itself further downstream so that we could enjoy a different route back.
Once back onboard, someone was there to collect our shoes so they could be washed and returned to our room a little later. I had some time to use the onboard Wifi on the sundeck at 6 pm for the complimentary Cocktail hour before a briefing was given for the following day’s schedule.
Our 4-course dinner was as delicious as always. Following a salad and soup, I opted for the beef tenderloin entree, which was cooked to perfection. I nibbled a few bites of my dessert but decided I had indulged enough for the day not to need even more. The sundeck was quiet in the evening as I finished some work. It was an enjoyable day along the Mekong.