Gecko Eyes Cruise Cai Be - Sa Dec 2 days

We pick you up at your hotel in Saigon (district 1 and parts of district 3) and bring you to the pier in Cai Be (approx. 2 hours drive) where you board the Gecko Eyes. After a refreshing welcome drink we show you our on-board facilities and your cosy cabin. As lunch is served on the top deck, the boat starts cruising. Sit back on the sun deck or in our air-conditioned lounge and watch the fantastic scenery and the daily life of the Mekong people.
After lunch we arrive in charming Sa Dec for a city tour. There you can see the busy and colorful local market, enjoy a coffee on the nice riverside promenade and visit a nearby flower village with orchards. The charming town still has a lot of colonial architecture, in particular the old market, the church and many old villas and trader’s houses. We visit one of them, a beautifully renovated traditional house of a Chinese trader’s family. This sumptuous building belonged to the main character of the novel „The Lover“ and indeed to the lover of Marguerite Duras.
Writer Marguerite Duras grew up in the colonial town of Sa Dec where her mother worked as a teacher. In 1984 she published the apparently autobiographical novel L’Amant, translated into English as The Lover, which describes her adolescent affair with a Chinese man. The text won the Goncourt prize in 1984. In 1991 Jean-Jaques Annaut directed the successful movie The Lover. The film was one of the first Western films shot in Vietnam after the Vietnam war. Many of the scenes were actually filmed in Sa Dec where a number of the original locations of Marguerite Duras’ life still exist: in particular the family house of her Chinese lover, Huynh Thuy Le.

In the late afternoon we return to the Gecko Eyes vessel and enjoy a sunset cruise with more fantastic photo opportunities from aboard. If time allows there is a chance for a brief stop at a brick kiln or short bicycle ride before dinner is served on board and we moor for the night. You stay overnight on board your floating hotel in the Mekong Delta.

Meals: L, D

Accommodation: Gecko Eyes Cruise

Wake up well rested to the sound of the Mekong river and get ready for another exciting day of sightseeing in the Mekong Delta. At 6.30h the boat sets off for a sunrise cruise. Watch the locals go about their daily work drying exotic fruits and building ships on the wooden yards while enjoying an early breakfast.
After the tasty breakfast, we board a sampan boat to Can Tho floating market. Marvel at the sheer abundance of exotic fruits, vegetables and skillfully handcrafted regional products. We will pull up to the boats for talking and bargaining with the merchants. Please note that time does not stand still in Vietnam — modern forms of trading are pushing back the more traditional forms of trading; this also affects Can Tho floating market which is currently getting smaller and smaller.
After the floating market you have the opportunity to go for a guided walk around Can Tho, a beautiful Mekong Delta town.
After lunch at Mekong Rest Stop we take you back to your hotel in Saigon.

Meals: B, L

Accommodation: Gecko Eyes Cruise