Indochina Holiday: Final Day in Vietnam

8th April 2013

This morning we pulled up anchor and motored to the wharf at Chau Doc, where we tied up at around 7.30am. We will most of this morning exploring Chau Doc town, before heading to the Cambodian border.

The wharf at Chau Doc

On the river side of the boat some fisherman are hauling in their net only to find they have caught all sorts of rubbish including what looked like a cardboard carton, various other bits of junk which were unceremoniously returned to the river, and a few small fish.

After breakfast we are told to assemble in the lounge at 8.30am, for our excursion ashore. First on our groups agenda is a Cyclo ride through town. We are told it may not be the most comfortable ride in town, but the experience is worth it. Anyway, we all faithfully head off to shore to take it on. An eager bunch of Cyclos are quickly assembled, and we are off on the first part of our adventure.

Joy leads our team out

Followed by Mike looking very confident

And then Carole

We all assembled just down the road before a group assault on the town. just as we were about to go, there was an almighty bang, and one of the Cyclos had a blow out, requiring an urgent replacement. It was finally sorted and we were off, through the bustling streets, and was a great way to see the town, if not a touch uncomfortable.

Almost ready to go

And we are under way

The traffic is not too bad, but it does give you some feel as to what it must be like for cyclists in this traffic. We have no near misses, and take in some interesting sights. Chau Doc is a good sized and seemingly prosperous town.

Collecting rubbish for recycling ?

Pomelos for sale

A local Temple

A bit of competition on the road

Fresh birds (or almost fresh) are available also, you just need to pluck them yourself

The cyclos completed their journey, dropping all of us at the Chau Doc market.

This is the towns main market and is located on the riverside. All types of fresh food and other day to day essentials are available, plus the usual clothing etc.

We spend about 40 minutes wandering through the market, fortunately today the heat is not too oppressive.

Vendors sell their product in the middle of the road

But mostly from stalls where the food is well prented

There was fresh seafood

And "other" seafood

Having explored the market, we were taken to the riverside, to board a sampan which will take us to the largest fish farms in Vietnam, specialising in growing Basa, a fish we see quite a bit now in Australia. I was somewhat surprised to find out that Basa, is actually a catfish.

Boarding the sampan

The large fishfarms produce around 100,000 fish per annum each. The family often lives on the floating structure. Returns are much better than rice farming but a bit less stable, as prices can fluctuate widely. They produce some of the fish food on site using rice bran as a base, as the cost of dry fish food from merchants is high.

Preparing the fish food

Fish are fed twice a day, and ending reaching a weight of 1 kg + in about 10 months which is when they are harvested

After our visit to the fish farm, we were taken back to our ship to have lunch and weigh anchor to move up to the Cambodian border which is about 35km away.

Soon after lunch we were at the Cambodian Border and once again anchored in the middle of the river. Immigration formalities are expected to take several hours, so we will be here, on the boat for the afternoon, before eventually heading further upstream to Phnom Penh.

Vietnam / Cambodia Border

A few activities have been organized to keep us occupied over this period. First up, is a ships tour at 2.30pm. The tour takes about 40 minutes and covers the kitchen, which is very compact, a tour of the bridge, which has the bare minimum of controls and navigation aids ( but adequate for river cruising), and then it is down below to inspect the water treatment plant, which is quite sophisticated.

The Ships galley, with 8 staff

The Bridge

Last is the engine room, which is spotless. The ship has 2 diesel engines and 3 generators, Curiously, it has one Yanmar engine and one Mitsubishi engine. It was apparently supplied originally with 2 Mitsubishi engines, but one had problems and parts were hard to get, so it was replaced with a Yanmar, which are more popular and easier to service.

The Engine Room

A short rest was in order after the ships tour, before a cooking lesson in the dining room at 4 pm. We are shown how to cook fried Vietnamese Spring Rolls ( Mike was taking detailed notes) and a Cambodian Dish called Chicken Amok. Both were delicious.