2012 Cruise Companion and Shore Excursions - Uniworld River ...

Grand Asia & the Mekong
Day 12 | Ho Chi Minh City, transfer to My Tho, Cai Be
b e BB, L, Vietnamese Theme Dinner
Featured Excursions: Cai Be sampan cruise, Mr. Kiet’s House,
and local rice paper- and candy-making establishment
5 2 S x
After breakfast, you’ll check out of your hotel and head to My
Tho, where your elegant ship, the River Saigon, awaits you. A
few hours of scenic sailing will take you to Cai Be harbor for a
luxurious sampan cruise through its bustling floating markets.
You’ll sail into the city center, past the gorgeous French Gothic
cathedral, for a tour of historic Mr. Kiet’s House. This former
imperial residence boasts beautiful antique furnishings and
surrounding gardens replete with indigenous fruit. After your
tour of the residence, take a short walk to a local establishment
where workers make everything from rice paper and rice wine
to traditional rice candy. Vietnam is one of the world’s largest
producers and exporters of rice, and the Mekong Delta is known
as the country’s “rice bowl.” You’ll learn all about the amazing
versatility of this staple food and its importance to the region.
Later this evening, enjoy a special Captain’s Welcome Reception
and a Vietnamese Theme Dinner onboard the ship.
Day 13 | Sa Dec, Cu Lao Gien BB, L, D
Featured Excursions: Sa Dec canal cruise, brick-making and
rice-processing factories, and Huynh Thuy Le House
6 2 S x
Featured Excursion: Cu Lao Gien Cathedral 5 2 b x
Sailing on your sampan through Sa Dec’s narrow canals
gives you the perfect opportunity to observe locals going
about their daily routines. Look for children frolicking in the
water, fishermen plying their trade, and women caring for
their families. You’ll stop at a factory where bricks and tiles
made with mud from the Mekong River lie baking in the sun;
here you’ll learn how rice husks from the rice-processing
facility next door are used to fuel the brick factory’s kilns,
and how in turn the ashes from the husks are used as
fertilizer—just a few examples of the Vietnamese people’s
remarkable ingenuity.
Later in the day you’ll visit Cu Lao Gien Cathedral, which is
part of a monastic complex built on the island of Cu Lao
Gien in the late 19th century by French nuns. You’ll tour
the cathedral—the oldest Catholic cathedral in southern
Vietnam—with a Franciscan friar, who’ll tell you about life
in the order. Then you’ll have the opportunity to visit with
residents of the government-supported senior home that is
housed in the former monastery next door.
Day 14 | Chau Doc BB, L, D
Featured Excursions: Chau Doc harbor cruise, fish farm, and
holy temples at the base of Sam Mountain
6 3 S x
In the Mekong Delta, residents live, work, and even shop on
the water. Today you’ll get a taste of this way of life during
a sampan tour of lively Chau Doc harbor, which teems with
traditional Vietnamese floating markets and homes. You’ll
see housewives paddling their sampans from boat to boat,
bartering and socializing with the harbor’s many vendors.
Most merchants attach a sample of their wares—such as
a watermelon, coconut, or cluster of bananas—to a high
wooden mast to make shopping easier for their floating
customers. After you’ve taken in the astonishing array of
goods available at the market, you’ll disembark at a floating
fish farm to learn about Vietnamese aquaculture. The
raising and harvesting of seafood is one of Vietnam’s
fastest-growing industries, and you’ll be amazed by the
efficiency and ingenuity on display at Chau Doc’s floating
farms. You’ll even get a chance to feed the fish!
Reboard your sampan for a quick trip to the main port of
Chau Doc, where you’ll disembark for a brief perusal of the
port’s outdoor market before reboarding the sampan bound
for Nui Sam (Sam Mountain). Sam Mountain, which is thickly
strewn with tombs and temples, is one of the holiest sites in
southern Vietnam; it’s estimated that eight to ten million
Vietnamese make a pilgrimage here each year. You’ll have
time to explore the religious sites at the mountain’s base.
Grand Asia & the Mekong
Return to your luxury sampan and sail past bustling markets
into the center of town for a tour of majestic Huynh Thuy Le
House, a late-19th-century home made famous by its connection
to best-selling French novelist Marguerite Duras. Duras spent
her teenage years in Sa Dec, and her prize-winning novel,
L’Amant (The Lover), is said to be based on her doomed love
affair with Huynh Thuy Le, the son of a wealthy Chinese
landowner. Huynh Thuy Le House is a popular destination
for fans of Duras’s fiction and romantics of all stripes.
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