Sunday 19th November 2017

We checked out of our hotel in Saigon after a lovely breakfast in the Sky Lounge. Our guide and driver were waiting for us in the foyer and we were soon driving out of the city towards the port of My Tho. Our guide was friendly and spoke good English and we chatted to him quite a bit along the way.

We arrived at the port half an hour before we were expected and discovered that we were the first passengers to arrive. Our luggage was dealt with directly between our guide/driver and the ship's crew, after which we said goodbye to our guide and driver. The ship's staff were still very busy preparing our ship, the Tonle Pandaw, for our arrival. Nevertheless we were given a warm welcome and shown to our cabin, which looked comfortable, if not quite as luxurious as some of the hotels we had been staying in recently.

While we were exploring the ship, the rest of the passengers, about forty in total, arrived on a coach. (We felt quite privileged that we had been chaffeur-driven to the ship!) Shortly after that, lunch was served and we departed for our cruise up the Mekong River.