Day 14 June 16, 2012: -Cruise the Mekong River
This morning we took a scenic three-hour <drive from Ho Chi Minh City> to Cai Be before we boarded a Mekong Queen boat and <Cruise the Mekong River-1> along the floating markets. We visited a <coconut candy factory>. Then after a ride through canals to <Mrs. Kiet's house> an active agricultural learning center where we has snacks and played with a Boa Constrictor, bees and a stroll through the gardens and orchards. We did a tour of a local handcraft village <Cruise the Mekong River-2>
We sailed to <Con Quay Island for lunch>. Each table of four was served a whole fried fish. We were served various sauces and with your chop sticks you remove pieces of fish to eat. After lunch we embark our last river cruise of the day as we head to Cai Be. Exhausted after a very busy day we <drove back to our hotel in Saigon>. On our way back we made a short stop at another <Cao Dai temple> Cao Dai is an interesting “religion because their prophets include Louis Pasture, Albert Einstein . Galileo and others.
Tonight is our last day in Viet Nam and we all gathered in a local restaurant for our farewell dinner. It was a fabulous 14 days. In a land that held many bad memories for me I am glad that I returned to see how the Vietnamese people have “moved on.” Their economy is strong and while we were there Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, was in Viet Nam to negotiate having the U. S. Navy use Cam Ranh Bay as a naval station. The Chinese Government asked the Vietnamese if they could trust the Americans. But it is the Chinese that the Vietnamese fear most.
One night in Saigon Gail, I and some of our traveling buddies went to the Hard Rock café for dinner. While there I was talking to Tiffany. Tiffany asked me if this was my first visit to Veit Nam. I said “No, I had been here before.” He asked me when was I here? When I told him I was in Viet Nam in 1970 his reply summed up how I was received in Viet Nam. He simply said, “What took you so long to return.”
Day 15 June 17, 2012: - Fly to Bangkok, Thailand
Saigon Thich Quang Duc Memorial
On our way to the airport for the
start of our retrun home we had a stop at the <Thích Quảng Đức monument> The Thích Quảng Đức monument depicts Bodhisattva Thích Quảng Đức protest of Vietnamese regime's (Diệm) oppression of Buddhists. The bronze sculpture is located at the same intersection where he set himself on fire.Malcolm Browne's image of the Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation at a Saigon intersection June 11, 1963 can be called a photograph that changed history. Duc arrived at the intersection of Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street and Cach Mang Tam Street in a British Austin (in the background and at the Thien Mu Pagoda in Hue), strolled to the gas station and purchased fuel, sat on the road and ignited a cigarette lighter. The effect of these images on the "average American" arguably may have changed the course of history.
<Fly to Bangkok> for a final night in Thailand before our final flight back to the United States.
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Viet Nam Photos Page 9
