Thursday 8th March 2012
Our Cruise Critic group of 40 met in one of the dining rooms at 7.45am and caught a tender ride to Nha Trang soon after.
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| The Port of Nha Trang |
Our guide Dung was on the dock with an air conditioned bus waiting for us. We started the day with a visit to an embroidery factory. Women sit and embroider all day. They do beautiful work but cannot be good for their eyesight.
Our next stop and a short walk took us to Pagoda Orphanage which it shelters and cares for over 120 abandoned, orphaned and street children. The children aged from several months to 9 years are cared for by a group of Buddhist nuns and volunteers. This was a highlight for many of us. I was delighted as was Tony to hold their youngest orphan, a young boy who was born without arms. He would have been about 5 months old and thriving. He engaged eye contact and responded with smiles for us when we spoke to him.
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| The classroom Area |
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| Eating Area |
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| Classroom |
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| Younger Children |
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| Tony with Youngest Orphan |
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| Our Tracksuits were very much appreciated |
Another short walk on a village path leads us to the home of a family who weaves mats from rushes which grow abundantly in the surrounding areas. Two people working together will weave just four mats in a day. These are taken to local markets and traded for food and essentials.
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| Me Weaving a Mat |
Next on our tour list was an Ancient house, here we enjoyed fruits and green tea before setting off again.
We were lucky enough to pass a farmer with his buffalo out ploughing in his rice field. As this was a private tour we were able to get the driver to stop while we got out and took photos. We also took a photo opportunely at a big Buddha.
The next stop was a conical hat making village, the manual work is done by women.
Next was a place where the bus had to avoid knocking over the bamboo brackets which a layer of rice or saffron pulp is places on to be dried in the sun.
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| Rice being dried and collected |
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| Shredding the dried rice for noodles |
Lunch was next at a riverside restaurant and then we traveled down the Cai River to rejoin our bus, and make our way back to the ship.
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| This is where we got off after our boat ride |
This was a wonderful tour, well worth the $US55 each it cost.
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