The Mekong Delta

A very painful 6AM start for our Mekong Delta tour. Bit of a debacle on collection - there were seven people on the bus when we got in and five were on the wrong bus. We also collected two people, drove around the block once and they got off again. Eventually we were off. About a three hour drive and we both slept most of the way as we didn't have much sleep the night before.

We arrived at the river and caught a car ferry across to the other side. The river was really wide at this point - at least a couple of hundred metres, and we aimed down the river, round an island and then disembarked at a port the other side dodging the cars as we got off. Our guide then took us down a side alley and we boarded a small thin boat and we pushed out into the river.

It was pretty cool cruising down the river, and it appeared even larger from our tiny little boat, especially as there were some really big vessels. We cruised past some fishing boats moored up on the bank and got off at a rickety little jetty and, somewhat gingerly, got off.

This stop was at a place that made coconut candy and we were handed a piece as we arrived. Tasted pretty good although it was hot. They showed us the process of making it from the coconuts all the way through to the finished produce. We bought a bar each as it was only 15,000. We were also given some quite foul tasting green tea before heading back to the boat.

Next stop was our lunch stop and we got a bowl of pho (noodle soup) and then the usual rice, meat and veggie dishes. After lunch we got some entertainment from a girl and two elderly gentlemen who performed various Vietnamese songs for us. The three French girls kept stifling laughter throughout and it was a bit funny as the notes seemed to be all over the place.

We then cruised through some of the canals that spread around the delta like spiders webs. We could see various life along the way from fish traps, houses in the reeds and we even got a little girl to wave at us. We encountered a small boat being paddled towards us and everyone got excited, got their cameras out and started taking pictures only to find out that it was a tourist boat and they were wearing Vietnamese hats. We were to go on these boats too but first was a quick trip to see a big snake which was nothing more than a photo opportunity before heading back to board the canoes and paddled our way out of the reeds to the main river. Well, we didn't actually do any of the paddling ourselves.

We got back into our little boat and headed back slowly up the river to where we started and boarded the ferry to head back. Fairly uneventful drive back and then we had a bit of a rest before heading out to dinner. We bumped into Laure-Anne while we out - she had just arrived in Saigon, and ended up sat with the three Irish teachers, Mike, Laure-Anne, Ben and Scott as well as two Irish guys we'd met on our Mekong Delta trip.