Emily and Linda’s Travel Blog

We've visited a number of small businesses: people making sleeping mats, running small, single-family run fish farms, weaving silk, making coconut candy and popped rice.  Some are probably kept alive by the tourist bus trade, but they are interesting in a historic way.  Others seem to be part of the new Cambodian push for greater prosperity. It's hard to watch some of the working conditions (many of us came away from the mat-making factory with coughs leading us to wonder about the lungs of the women who work there all day.  The fish farm was bustling and apparently successful, but had evidence of all the concerns regarding fish farming generally (cramped tanks, overflow to the surrounding river and wild fish, fed a diet of old fish bones and flesh cooked down....).  Hard to decide when our first world filter is appropriate or not.  These people are happy to have steady work. Too easy to judge the way they achieve that.  And yet, one could hope for a more sustainable model to be introduced.  In the countryside yesterday our guide explained that one of the biggest industries here is clothing manufacture.  The government is trying to push more of the factories out of the big cities.  Advantages include less pollution density and more abundant jobs in the rural areas.  Also since the workers (mostly women) can then live at home, they don't have to spend as much on living expenses as they would in the city and can remain integrated in their communities.  To get to work and back, they travel by bicycle, motorbike, or many ride in commuter trucks - flatbed with rails all around in which up to 50 or so women ride standing up and packed in like a Tokyo subway car.  One of our lecturers noted that an interesting development from that ruralization of industry is that there are now a large number of young women with money enough for a smart phone - allowing them to be informed and connected in a new way. He mentioned that already some local candidates have been voted out.  Many layers to the changes here.  Another guide mentioned that the dominant party (Cambodian People's Party) still manipulates election results to make sure they're still on top so it seems the old guard will die hard. 

This woman is dyeing reed strips before they’re woven into sleeping mats (high on my suspect list for the cough many of us developed that evening). 

Family-owned fish farm on the Mekong.  The big metal tank is a giant cooker where all the unused fish parts get cooked down to feed the next generation of fish

Silk-weaving factory. This one was in-between. Probably fewer than 100 workers.  

Commuter truck - this one was near the end of its run. Imagine about 50 more people standing in the back.  

Cao Dai is a religion that was founded in Vietnam in 1926. It attempts to unite Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, with elements of Christianity and a wide variety of saints, including Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc,Victor Hugo and Sun Yat Sen, Muhammed, Louis Pasteur, and Lenin. Adherents believe this is "the Third Great Universal Religious Amnesty" when all religions can unite.  Women are viewed as equal to men, but cannot hold either of the 2 highest positions in the church (don’t get me started). 

We visited a Caodaist temple in Sa Dec.Their churches are famous for their eclectic architecture, colorful ornamentation, and use of neon. We also learned hat the Caodaists offer free burials, including pick up of the body, within 2 hours of being called, in a wildly decorated "dragon car" (the vehicle behind the gate in the picture) So families who are too poor to pay for a funeral can see their loved ones taken care of it. 

:  

"I vow that from now on I will know only one Cao-Dai Religion (God-Way Religion), I will never change my mind, I will live in harmony and be a close member of the believer's community, I will observe Cao-Dai Laws and Regulations. Should si change my mind shall be exterminated by Haven and EarthRegulations.  Should I change my mind,"

Wild stuff

Day 4 afternoon had 3 stops: a visit to "the Chinese House" which is reported to be the family home of the Older Chinese man the Margueritte Duras wrote about in her autobiographical novel, The Lover. 

Next we had a walk through the local open air market where the vegetables looked so beautiful I wished I had a kitchen to cook them in. There were other less familiar items like live snakes, skinned "river rats" (yes actual rats, but supposedly only feeding on rice), and buckets of swimming eels. I'll spare you the pictures of the animals. , but I did manage to capture several vendors calling out their wares. 

The last visit was to a Caodaist temple. More on that in the next post. 

On Day 4 we took a small tender boat to the little town of Cai Be and the larger, more prosperous seeming, Sa Dec. In Cai Be we saw a sweet little French Gothic Cathedral and then  visited a rice paper factory (the kind you use to make summer rolls or spring rolls). The process is a lot like making a crepe and just as deceptively simple on first glance. One of our companions had a go (not too successful).

We also watched women making coconut candy. The kids just stay by the side while the women are working.  You can see that methods of occupying them are similar to the ones employed in the states. 

Over on the side a fellow was making popped rice using superheated black sand which then gets sifted out. In order to waste nothing, the hulls are burned to heat the sand resulting in a smoky flavor in the final product. 

We are greeted by a different towel creature every day. 

The food so far is very good, with an attempt to offer new foods each day for the adventurous. Had wintermelon soup with fishballs today and my first taste of fresh soursop and guava yesterday. Morning and afternoon excursions to towns, factories, and landmarks. There’s a lot of coming and going and eating and meeting, but there's also the river to rest your gaze on and watch the boats go by. 

Thursday we began our travels with a bus ride through the Chinese-Vietnamese district of Ho Chi Minh City

Along the way to the Mekong River to meet our ship, we stopped at a lacquer factory to watch how lacquerware is made.  The most interesting craft to me was the placement of egg-shells into the wood.  Painstaking and involving many steps placing new layers over old ones with varnishing and polishing steps in between. 

One of the obligatory stops on a Vietnam tour seems to be a water puppet show.  We went to one in Hanoi on our last trip and didn't love it, but I rather enjoyed this one.  The puppets are sort of like marionettes, but instead of hanging from strings, they are operated from underwater poles while the puppetmasters stand in the water up to their waists behind a screen.  The craft dates from the 1100s and is accompanied by traditional instruments.  The last one we saw seemed to be a military version of Punch and Judy with a lot of bashing each other.  This one seemed to be more allegorical ( a guess since we couldn't understand the words). The colors were brilliant.  Some of the others didn't care for the music, but I found it fascinating.  The musicians also provided all the voices for the puppets.  

Our first day in HCMC/Saigon was pretty laid back at the beginning.  We opted out of the War Museum ( dedicated to the American War) as they call it here). We were in desperate need of sleep and a shower and had been to the museum on our first trip (it's well worth a visit to see just how dreadful that war was for the Vietnamese). We rested up and then headed downtown to wander around a little.  A sudden shower caused us to shelter under an overhang of the local Starbucks (Vietnamese coffee is extraordinarily good, but as in Italy good coffee does not shield you from the ubiquitous Starbucks phenomenon). There are a few more cars than on our last visit 7 years ago, but the motorscooter is still queen of the road. 

HCMC residents are fearless on these things, riding them in pouring rain wearing nothing but flip flops, high heels, or barefoot.  Some ponchos have a special clear window so the bike can be covered, but the headlight can still shine through.  Others have double hoods so the passenger can be shielded too.  Our guide tells us that the maximum people allowed on a single bike is 5 (down from 8). Most we saw was 4 on one bike.  More helmet use, thank God, than last time we were here, but still a lot of kids without them.  

The stop lights etc. are observed in an inconsistent way.  When crossing the street y u have to summon up your courage a plunge in, keeping your pace as consistent as possible. And pray.  The last step is essential.  Turning it over is the only option.  Mostly it works. Wedid see one wipeout though( more on that in next post).