Ho Chi Min city, Long Tan and Tokyo.

Our last meal on the AMAlotus was breakfast, we were all packed and ready to depart for our long drive to Ho Chi Min city, where we will check into our hotel, The Park Hyatt.

Then  we will do our optional tour to Long Tan.

Let me share a little history about Long Tan...The battle of Long Tan is the most recognised Australian battle of the Vietnam war. In a decade long war, that for most part consisted of small contacts. Long Tan was one of the exceptions. 

The battle of Long Tan is the most publicised Australian battle of the Vietnam war. The battle took place on the 18Th August 1966.

For Three and a half hours, in the pouring rain amid the mud and shattered trees of a rubber plantation, called Long Tan.

Major Harry Smith and his dispersed company of 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers are fighting for their lives, holding of an overwhelming enemy force of 2,500 battle hardened Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers.

With their ammunition running out, their casualties mounting and the enemy massing for a final assault each man begins to search for his own answer and the strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honour, decency and courage.
We were fortunate enough to have on our tour a former Vietnam vet, Peter from Cairns and his lovely wife. APT supplied a wreath for Peter to lay at the cross, where the battle of Long Tan took place.
A little gossip, the cross at this site is not the original cross, but a replica.
The original cross was found laying in a field and now resides in the war memorial in Canberra.

Peter led the parade with wreath in hand to the cross to pay respect.

We were all supplied with one stemmed flower to lay at the cross in honour of all that fought in the Vietnam war and Long Tan.

A very emotional moment.

Thank you to all the brave men that fought in the wars.

A very emotional Peter on returning to a battle site, many memories relived.

The cross, amongst a banana plantation. peter and Ross, who also served in the navy.

We also visited Nui Dat.

Nui Dat is a former 1st Australian task force base now part of Ba Ria city in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, Vietnam. It is not the name of the official ward, it just means dirt hill.

Nui Dat was where the airforce squadron base was set up, as you can see, it is just a hill in a quarry, nothing is sign posted and if you did not go on a tour, you would never know, what was there.
Our guide was very informative, and has majored at Uni in wars of the world.

Explanation and photos of the air base.

We stopped on the road, which was the airstrip, again nothing to signpost that it was ever here. This little shop sold stubby holders for $5US. A few had a beer.

Nui Dat, the hill????

The road that was originally an airstrip. 

The tour was a long day and other than seeing the cross, paying respect to the fallen, it would be a tour that I would not recommend.

On return to our hotel, we had a buffet dinner in the hotel.

The next day our optional tour was to be a pillion passenger on a motorbike tour of Ho Chi Min city, there are 8million motorbikes in Ho Chi Min.

.

DH with his rider, thumbs up.

Here we are all set, masks, helmets etc.

Thumbs off and off we go!

My little man, a very careful rider.

First visit was the centuries old temple.

The post office

Inside the post office.

In amongst the traffic.

OHHH! The fabric shops.

Temple. After our 4hour tour, we were dropped back to the hotel, had some lunch then walked down to the central market and to Mekong Quilts a store that I always visit and have given a donation to in the past. This incentive was commenced a number of years ago, by an Australian woman, who saw the need for the village women to earn an income. All the quilts made are hand quilted and of a high standard.

Mekong Quilts and an explanation of who it helps.

The quilts for sale, hanging in the shop.

There is also a variety of small handmade goods for sale. 

On return to the hotel, a short rest, then a night at the opera to see The Bamboo circus.

In my shopping at the market, I wanted a traditional dress to wear to the opera and was pleased with what I purchased.

Me in traditional Vietnamese dress.

The opera house.

The Bamboo circus.

After the opera, our farewell dinner was at Luke Nyguen’s restaurant, we had a set menu. The restaurant is very large and is spread over four stories, an enjoyable night was had by all.

Sad to leave our group, farewells and emails exchanged, a wonderful tour was enjoyed by all.

The restaurant

Our set menu.

Luke’s books for sale.

Our group

First entree.

Dessert, forgot to take other photos, but the food was delicious.

This concludes our tour of Cambodia and Vietnam, we are off to Japan for a spot of shopping.

The next day, saw us fly to Tokyo, on arrival into Narita airport, waiting for our luggage, DH’s did not arrive, so after reporting our lost suitcase, off we set to get the train to our hotel.

The temperature was 12 degrees from 35 degrees in Vietnam, no luggage for DH, where his warm clothes were.

The train ride took 1 hour 40mins, we were quite tired and sick with the flu and could not check in until 1 pm, so after dropping my suitcase, we went for a walk to the Takyishima shopping centre to see if the Yazawaya store was still there... no it had closed.

We did find a fabric store, called Okedaya, that only sold fabric for clothes, so disappointed.

Back to the hotel for an early night.

The next day still no suitcase, it was raining and we were planning to go to Nippori, Fabric town for me to do some shopping, first up, we need to buy a jacket for DH.

I did manage to get some sashiko, but not much else, my opinion is that quilting has taken a bit of a nose dive in Japan.

This was our fourth visit to Japan, the last in 2015 and a lot has changed since then, there are a lot of works going on and the city of Tokyo is under huge construction due to the 2020 Olympics.

We had constant rain and DH’s suitcase did not arrive until just before the night we were to leave.

Time to go home and recover from the flu.

Until our next adventure!!!

Tan Chau-Vietnam, Mekong Delta, Sa Dec and Cai Be.

Our full day of sailing was filled up with cooking classes, towel folding and trivia nights.
I also got time to do a little sewing, in the evening we had a trivia night after dinner.

 Our sunset, in between Cambodia and Vietnam, a beautiful view, whilst drinking cocktails.

 Our fruit carving demonstration

We also had an informative lesson on the many different fruits available in Asia.

The next day, we docked in the middle of the Mekong and were taken ashore to Tan Chau, by smaller boats, we are officially in Vietnam.

The tour today was to cruise to Evergreen Island, to see how the villagers live and grow all their food for consumption. The villagers are fully sustainable, have their own livestock, they even catch the bush rats and eat them. These rats are apparently clean to eat unlike the city dwellers, as they only eat vegetation and no food scraps.

All done by hand

Each reed is fed into the machine, by hand.

We visited the factory where the reed mats are woven, these mats are used for sleeping on.

The reed mats, laying in the sun.

We then visited the local village, access only by boat to have a peek view into village life on Evergreen Island

This house is typical of what is on this island

The kitchen, as mentioned before,  most of the cooking is done outside.

The toilet is out side

The kitchen

Family room with shrine

A sewing machine

The kitchen, outside

Wood for the kitchen

Cattle’s. Lose to house

Lush agricultural lands

The only access to Evergreen Island is by boat

A celebration is going to be held today

The animals on the gate posts rare decided by the year it was built with the animal from the. Hi see horoscope, the year of the dog.

The year of the dragon

farmers on the land

roosters kept for cock fighting 

Cattle are kept close to the house.

After our tour of the weaving factory, we all got onto dinner rickshaws to be transported 15mins down the road to the silk factory.

 Our rickshaw drivers all waiting for us to board.

My little man

 All aboard and ready for the adventure

 Some street secedes along the way

The silk weaving factory.

Some good looking roasted chook, street food, smells good, but I will not try it.

Our introduction to the silk factory process.

After our tour we all got back into our rickshaws to be transported back to our small river boats to be transported to AMA lotous.

The next morning we docked again in the Mekong Delta at Sa Dec, after breakfast we all got into our small boats to go ashore in Sa Dec, here we will visit the Lovers House, a famous movie and the local markets.

 The Lovers House

 The local markets in Sa Dec

The Main Street in Sa Dec.

 The local markets

Cooked rats

Local markets in Sa Dec, after our visit we got back onto our boat and cruised to Cai Be, where we will do a tour to the  Cai Be temple.

After this visit  at the temple, I was helping a fellow passenger  board and this is where my I Pad fell onto the rocks and slipped into the Mekong River, I lost most of my photos that I had not saved, now to commandeer my DH’s tablet.

 The Cai Be temple.

Inside

Very ornate.

Tomorrow we will end our tour on the Mekong River, drive by coach for 1 1/2hours into HO Chi MIn city.
More adventures to come in Ho Chi Min.