Ba Ria, Vietnam

We arrived in the port of Cai Mep, Vietnam, yesterday, Saturday, March 17, at approximately 11 a.m.  Thus began our not quite 2-day visit to Vietnam.  Cai Mep is the nearest authorized cruise ship port these days for access to Saigon and environs.  Vietnam no longer allows cruise ships to come right up the Saigon River to Saigon itself.  (As you know, the official name for the old city of Saigon is Ho Chi Minh City, but locals commonly refer to it by its historical name, as do I, and there is at least as much signage in the city that does so as well.)

The first thing I noticed when I pulled the curtains back, even though at that point we were three hours or so from our docking position, was the pilot boat that undoubtedly delivered the pilot who was to guide our ship in.

The waterway was busy and full of boats of all kinds no matter what direction you looked in.  There were container ships, lots of fishing boats with dragging nets out, tankers, etc.

   

And once again there was a floating oil rig in the distance.  Amazing to realize the extent to which ocean oil drilling is taking place in this part of the world.

In time, the proverbial tug boat appeared and the port itself came into view.  Yet another rather large industrial port with lots going on.

   

As we were docking I could see several of the day's excursion buses arriving.  Some of our fellow passengers were going into Saigon and staying overnight in a hotel, others were going in for the afternoon and evening and returning near midnight and still others were going in to explore for several hours before flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the temples there before re-joining the ship when we dock in Sihanoukville, our next stop after Saigon.  All of these options were Viking-organized excursions.  Because we covered everything these excursions were offering when we were in Vietnam and Cambodia just a year ago, we were looking for something else.

 

It's always interesting to watch this huge ship slip so effortlessly into a tight spot.  The waiting ambulance you see in one of the photos was not an unfamiliar sight.  Over the course of the cruise, some people have fallen and broken bones and others have had medical issues, such as heart attacks, that required hospitalization.  In fact, a few days after we joined the cruise in Los Angeles a fellow passenger who embarked there as well was found dead in a sauna aboard ship.  His remains were removed when we got to Tahiti.  (Among the ship's many features is a morgue.)

 

I also enjoy watching the landside local crew secure the heavy lines that are thrown to them via an attached thin and light rope from the forward and rear decks.

   

The usual local welcoming party was setting up as well.

 

As I mentioned, we didn't sign up for any excursions that first day.  Instead, we decided to take the Viking shuttle to a nearby town, Ba Ria, to look around.  Just before we were scheduled to get on the bus Janis decided to stay on the ship and, so, I went without her.  Viking had told us all that though we were welcome to go to Ba Ria, there was "nothing there."  Well, when the bus pulled up in front of a building that was some kind of commercial co-op (depicted in the cover photo above) we were immediately overwhelmed by vendors of various sorts hawking everything under the sun.  I don't know how they so quickly realized that I was without my female companion, but I was immediately offered a woman by one guy and a vial of Viagra by another.  Pushing through that melee, a few friends and I went into the co-op building to see what that was about.  I looked around quickly and this is what I saw before stepping outside again.

  

Right outside the co-op, vendors were selling various things from the sidewalk.

 

I then walked with a few friends across the street and along an open market consisting mostly of food items of one sort or another.  Seafood predominated and was either sitting on tables or in buckets in 95-degree heat.

     

The whole area was chaotic and gritty, which was consistent with our experience in almost all parts of Vietnam that we visited in January 2017.

  

Ba Ria certainly didn't appear to be prosperous, but I was surprised nevertheless to see a number of automobile dealerships within a few blocks of where we were.

  

Eventually I left our friends, who were more interested in shopping than I was, and returned to the co-op building to get into air-conditioned space and wait for the shuttle back.  On the way there I saw this dog in a doorway that looked like it could use a little care and attention.

I also passed these security guards (at least, I think that's what they were) who asked me to take their photo and seemed quite pleased when I showed it to them.

Once I was back inside the co-op building, I realized there was a supermarket at the back end.  It was modern in every respect, with barcode cash registers, state-of-the-art refrigeration units, etc.  It was actually more like a small version of a super Wal-Mart or Target since it also had housewares, clothing and lots of personal care products, among other things.  It was well lit, well organized and immaculate.  I wondered why anyone would buy food items sitting outside in that heat when this supermarket was an option.

     

Today Janis and I did an excursion called "Saigon River Artists' Village."  We'll blog about that tomorrow while we're at sea on our way to Cambodia.