Hi everyone
Thanks for the Italian roast Ray.
@STooRay enjoy your moment in the sun!
We continue working our way up the Mekong. Today's itinerary included a shore stop at a village of about 700 souls. Subsistence farming and fishing are the dominant occupations. It's neither a wealthy nor an easy place to live. But one enterprising woman produces local spirit; it was better than paint stripper but the Scots and Irish need not fear for competition.
We number 23 guests, a mix of Brits, Aussies, and Americans with two each from Portugal and Canada, served by about a dozen crew. It's a congenial bunch and we're enjoying the company.
The Mekong receives enormous volumes of sand and rock from the surrounding hills, and transports them in the annual monsoon floods. At the dry season such as now, a main industry is retrieving material for use in construction, and also sluicing for gold.
Tomorrow we'll pass one of the new dams, a topic of much discussion and not entirely free of controversy.
Stay safe and well everyone and tell your dear ones you love them.