After just a one-night stay in Saigon, it was time to depart and make our way to Mỹ Tho on the Mekong Delta. The trip from Saigon was just over an hour on a mostly modern freeway that passed through rice fields, banana, and coconut plantations. The scenery passing our bus windows was beautiful.

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When we arrived Mỹ Tho, our home for the next seven nights awaited us: The Jahan riverboat. We boarded so quickly and easily that I never got a photo of the boat. More opportunities will present themselves for that in the coming days as we cruise up the Mekong River to Siem Reap, Cambodia – our final destination. Along the way we will visit small villages, schools, monasteries, and family farms, learning more about the region and its people.

Today, though, the pace onboard was slow and we had some lunch, explored the ship, and rested in our stateroom. And speaking of the stateroom, what a retreat it is …

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This is a small boat, as cruises go. It has 26 cabins (a total max of 52 passengers) and 49 crew members from Vietnam and Cambodia. It is a gorgeous vessel and the views along the river, so far, are equally enchanting …

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8Nov14_13Internet connectivity is pretty sparse on the cruise. I’m huddled over my laptop in the lobby – one of only two places on the boat that share a single cellular data connection. Most of the travelers are “of a certain age” so we’re not needing to share bandwidth too much. 🙂