Today we were anchored in Chaudoc. We left on the morning excursion at 8:30 to avoid the heat. We took local river boats to see the Tay An Pagoda and the famous Lady temple at Sam Mountain.

The trip up river was very interesting. The stilt houses made out or corrugated aluminum, the fishing boats, water cress, ” mini- farms” and tons of water hyacinth. The people along the river lost the first crop of rice because of the flooding they will plant a second crop as soon as the river recedes.

The men and women fish with large nets. The fish can be made into eaten fresh,fish paste, or pickled and sold in the market. The pickled fish lasts for several months without refrigeration. Water cress is anchored with Styrofoam and rope so it doesn’t float away. Water hyacinth which we often see in local garden ponds has many uses, food, weaving fiber and a rattan looking material that we use for lawn furniture.

The pagoda was a combination Buddhist, Hindu and Taoist. The pagoda was a tad garish for my taste. Down the street, past the markets, is the Famous Lady Temple.There is a pilgrimage to this temple for three days in March. Visitors offer pieces of gold, roast pig, rice, rice wine and fruit. Prayers are written on paper and burned, the smoke carries the prayer to the Gods. The Famous Lady statue used to ride on the hill but it was brought down for the construction workers to worship during the construction of the canal.

Between the two temples we saw a man drying rice on the street pavement.

On the boat ride back to our ship we stopped at a fish farm. The fish are raised under the house. There are two kinds of fish, catfish ( there are two kinds of farmed catfish, the short whiskers and the long whiskers. They are all shipped to Asia and Europe.) and tilapia.Thousands of pounds are raised under the floor of the floating house. The fish are fed several times a day and it takes six – nine months to reach market weight.
The tilapia
are shipped to the US. We were all grateful that tilapia was not the fish du jour.

Everyday we are seeing barges dredging the river.
I would tell you how there are still many land mines and live bombs left in vietnam, but Mary has told me that Angelie Jolie has already told all of you, and I’m out of the loop.

Tonight we will moor over night in Sadec.

Temple spire

Outside of temple

Angels in the temple

Inside the temple

Food to offer at the temple

Offerings to the gods

The sign says buy a roast pig as an offering to you mom.. see did every thing for you…that is a rough translation.

Local vendor

River Taxis waiting for passengers

River houses

Harvesting water hyacinth

Fish under the living room floor

Drying rice in the street… the Cambodian treat.