We had a great start to our trip on the Mekong River today! After sunrise Tai Chi next to the swimming pool, we breakfasted and boarded our local boats for our first water excursion. We puttered between islands, passing fish farms, rice factories, and many local boats and homes. Our guides told us stories about the area and pointed out a lot of neat stuff. We landed on shore to visit a small rice business. We got to see demonstrations of making (and taste the final product of) rice paper, coconut candies, rice wine (yowzers!), and puffed rice candies (think rice krispie treats with a Vietnamese twist). After a brief shopping spree to purchase these local products, we got onto our boats again, toured around an island, and returned to Jahan. Before lunch we had a talk about photography.
In the afternoon we once again hopped onto our boats for a tour and time on land. This time we stopped at a village, where we walked around, sometimes through people's yards and patios, to meet the locals and learn about how they weave mats used for sleeping and sitting. I think most of us would be very sore if we slept on these mats! We also walked to the local temple, where we met two community elders. These lovely people talked about their lives on the island, living through the war, and happily answered questions on everything from the economy to their grandkid's educational opportunities.
We returned to the ship to enjoy sunset, an overview to southern
