16 Mar 2025 - Day on the River
Along the Red River en route to Ha Long Bay We went by bus to Co Chat Village which was known for its production of silk .
We saw three weavers sitting on chairs with Cooley hats extracting the silk from the cocoons . Then we stopped at another house where one lady was working a loom: this reminded me of my Parchment ancestors who were so clever in this specialist field in Braintree.
Then on to a production line of silk thread which seemed to date back to the start of the 20th century with ancient machines : it was impossible to see how they kept control of these and the machinery was really antiquated. From here to a small shop where they sold plain coloured silks as handkerchiefs, scarves and eye masks.
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We then motored in the ship for 4+ hours to our next destination which we reached at 3 pm. This was an up-and-coming port according to Alec which linked to provinces: he also said that there was a Komodo dragon to be found here but when we saw it, it was just an iguana! We had four stops in this village of Khanath Thien.
Here we saw an export house for products made from water hyacinth and sedge grass, these baskets et cetera were exported to Korea, China and other places. There were also baskets made from nylon cord, which seemed odd to us.
Then we walked to a house where they were producing rice pancakes with sesame seeds. The mixture was coloured by a local Scarlet coloured fruit and then cooked over coals before needing several hours to dry. The family sold these pancakes in the local market the following morning. It was interesting that the daughters of the house were not being trained in this art and stood Idle while their mother worked for 4 to 5 hours each afternoon to increase the income of the house. The elder one, may be 13 years old had painted toes and fingernail extensions. The pancakes were yummy.
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We then went to another house where they were producing. woven hemp mast: these were sold for $8 apiece when they were of a size roughly 2 m x 1 meter.
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The final visit was in a temple that seemed to have been provided for his workers by the paternal owner of large local glassworks, which were the main major industry of the area.
We then walked back to the ship. After dinner there was a recital on board the ship by local singers.
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