Tuesday 22nd March

After a good night's sleep & breakfast, Jane packed whilst d*** read his new book on the tunnels of Cu Chi. We took a taxi to the Grand Hotel where we caught up with the rest of the passengers & were allocated to "Blue" group of cruise passengers. The coach took about 90 minutes to reach the wharf at My Tho & on the way Tinh, our guide, gave us his potted life history which was a bit hard to comprehend. One of 9 children, his father was a South Vietnamese official who spent a year in the re-education camps after the war & Tin was the one to study for a degree which led him to the job as a guide. Life is still pretty tough for most of the Vietnamese but they are very family oriented.

After lunch on board we set off moving west up river past masses of boats of all sizes. The ship is pretty ancient & we are on the bottom deck of 3 with 2 small portholes set at about 2m above the floor so it is a little claustrophobic. For lunch we sat with a group of Victorians but d*** was a bit unsociable as his back was troublesome after the coach ride. Later we had the safety drill, introduction to the senior crew & a summary of the next day’s events before dinner. d*** just went straight to bed. The boat went about a further 40km up river from My Tho & we anchored in the river overnight off Cai Be.