Being Asian and Malaysian, I suppose the experience down the Mekong River was less exciting than say, for a Westerner. Looking at coconut trees, local orchard, honey farms and even the quaint Ben Tre town seem all too familiar. But let this not discourage you from paying a visit to the delta. If you enjoy the serenity and simplicity of village life with some degree of tolerance for extreme heat and mossies, this could be the place. For travellers interested in homestay, dont forget insect repellents and loose clothing. It is really hot this time of the year! Please view my blog for more details.

6:30 aufgestanden. 7:45 mit dem Bus Richtung Mekong Delta aufgemacht. Gebuchte Tour....wird sehr touristisch. Zwischenstopp in My Tho. Kokussnussbonbonfabrikation besucht. Artig Bonbons gekauft. Mir keine Schlange um den HAls haengen lassen. Mittagessen. Dann Honigtee und Schnaps probiert. Anschliessend diverserlei Fruechte waehrend vietnamesische Folklore zum besten gegeben wurde. Mit dem Bus weiter nach Can Tho. Abends mit einem aelteren franz. Paerchen zum Homestaying. iIst nicht wirklich mit der Familie, da ich eien Bungalow fuer mich habe, aber total schoen und abseits. Abendessen zusammen mit den Fransosen und einem aelteren hollaendischem Paerchen. Sonst keine Touristen. Es gibt Sommerroelchen zum selberrollen mit Elefantenfisch aus eigener Fischfarm. Danach hat Hung, der Mensch den wir besucht haben noch viel ueber das vietnamesische Leben auf dem Land erzaehlt. Ueber Religion und wie das Mekongwasser nutzbar gemacht wird.

Heute mußte ich sehr früh aufstehen, denn um 07:00 Uhr war Abfahrt zum "Floating Market". Das heißt, wir sind mit dem Bus zum Hafen gefahren und sind dort in ein Boot umgestiegen. Eigentlich waren es zwei solcher Märkte, der erste war in Cai Rang. Dieser Markt besteht im wesentlichen aus Booten, auf denen Einheimische ihre Waren, meist Lebensmittel oder Kleidung, anbieten. Auf jedem Boot findet sich ein Mast, an dem jene Gegenstände, die auf dem jeweiligen Boot verkauft werden, aufgehängt sind. Der Grund, warum der Markt auf dem Wasser und nicht auf dem Festland ist, liegt darin, daß die Verkäufer weniger Steuern zahlen müssen, wenn sie ihre Waren am Wasser verkaufen - warum auch immer.

Am Weg zu einem zweiten solchen Markt in Phong Dien sind haben wir noch einen Abstecher zu einer Reisnudelmanufaktur gemacht und zugeschaut, wie aus Reis Reisnudeln gemacht werden. Nicht, daß es sonderlich schmutzig gewesen wäre, aber sauber war es auch nicht gerade - im Grunde Erdboden mit Strohdach darüber. Schließlich sind wir zum zweiten Markt weitergefahren - mit dem Boot, versteht sich. An den Ufern hat man immer wieder Leute Wäsche oder sich selbst waschen gesehen, obwohl das Wasser trüb und nicht besonders sauber ist. Dort habe ich mir schließlich etwas zu essen gekauft, darunter etwas Undefinierbares. Ein in Blätter gewickeltes Päckchen Reis. In dem Reis war eine Art Bohnen drin und in der Mitte eine Banane. War süß und ziemlich klebrig, aber sehr gut.

Anschließend sind wir mit Boot und Bus wieder zurück zum Hotel gefahren, wo es Mittagessen gab. Auf der Speisekarte habe ich Schlange entdeckt. War für vietnamesische Verhältnisse mit umgerechnet EUR 2.- reichlich teuer, aber ich habe mir gedacht, um diesen Preis finde ich Schlange wohl sonst nirgendwo und habe also Schlange nach vietnamesischer Art bestellt - also in Currysauce mit Erdnüssen, Zwiebeln und Gemüse. War zwar ein wenig zäh, aber sehr gut - und natürlich mit Knochen, aber die waren eher wie Fischgräten.

Nachmittags haben wir zunächst eine Krokodilfarm angeschaut, wo 13000 Krokodile unterschiedlichen Alters und unterschiedlicher Größe leben. Fleisch wird gegessen, aus der Haut Schuhe, Handtaschen und ähnliches gemacht. Schließlich sind wir noch zu einem buddhistischen Tempel gefahren, das auf einem Berg lag. Wunderbare Aussicht, aber Tempel dieser Art habe ich nun wirklich schon genug gesehen.

Dann ging es - endlich, weil ich schon ziemlich müde war - zum Hotel in My Tho, wo wir die heutige Nacht verbringen werden. Morgen werde ich Vietnam auf dem Wasserweg nach Kambodscha verlassen. Nachdem wir heute und gestern schon so viel schönen Fluß aus nächster Nähe gesehen haben, habe ich mich bemüht, vom "Slow Boat", das 7 Stunden unterwegs ist, auf ein "Fast Boat" (4 Stunden) umzubuchen, denn ich habe mehrfach gehört, die Fahrt im Slow Boat sei ziemlich langweilig.

Im Hotel habe ich heute mangels Klimaanlage (wie gestern auch) mein Mosiktonetz aufgehängt. Ich dachte schon, ich würde es umsonst mitschleppen, denn bisher habe ich es noch nie gebraucht. In einigen Hotels hängt eines zusammengeknotet von der Decke. Bevor ich Vietnam verlasse, wollte ich eigentlich noch eine DVD mit Fotos heimschicken. Ich habe also im Hotel gefragt, wie lange denn das Postamt offen hat. Die Antwort war 21:00 Uhr. Das hat sich auch als richtig herausgestellt, allerdings kann man abends keine Post mehr aufgeben. Warum ein Postamt so lange offen hat aber keine Post entgegennimmt, habe ich nicht ganz verstanden.

I now wish I had written this journal entry earlier. Arghhh The fucking Vietcunt in Hanoi stole all my crap including my note book. Therefore this entry will be a very quick summary of what I briefly remember.

The tour cost I think $17 for a 2 day tour, we arrived at My Tho by bus, and was loaded onto boats that toured the Mekhong for what seemed like an eternity (and yes 2 days of this!). The Mekhong cruise was a scenic one, but after the first hour it just seemed very repetitive.

What I did not like about these package tours, is that every tour agent in Ho Chi Minh City, took everyone to the same route and the same locations, so we sort of saw more tourists than locals in many parts of the journey!

The Vietnamese, besides all the scams, dodginess, hostility, agressiveness, cockiness are very innovative, smart and creative people. They managed to organise their tours and to incorporate commercial sites like the Coconut Candy village, where they made candy our of Coconut. Every aspect of the coconut, including it's shell, its hairy external parts, the milk, the meat were all utilised in one form or another.

The canal's that we toured through were very well managed and was a very scenic boat ride. However the floating markets on the other hand were nothing that special. According to pictures, Thailand's floating market is much more picturesque.

The Worst Hotel Room In Vietnam

Several things I have learned - durian are the greatest fruit ever. Vietnamese spring rolls are awesome. And, buying some cold beer from a chatty old farmer at his riverside orchard will make an already fine day on the water even finer.

Today we decided to take a 10 hour boat tour of the floating markets and the countryside surrounding Can Tho. It cost us 3 bucks an hour, for boat and driver. Worth every penny.

Reptiles and amphibians are popular for eatin' in these parts. There are tanks of frogs, snakes and turtles in the front of our hotel, and the staff will turn them into a tasty stirfry should you so desire. As it stands, we're huge fans of the snake. Most are farmed, so no worries about them being endangered.

The floating markets were amazing. Our guide had us get off the boat for a bit and rest on a large boat selling pineapple. We watched the ordinary tourists, domestic and international, zipping by on their slightly larger and faster tourist boats, snapping pictures towards us. It made us feel almost like locals.

If anything, Can Tho Province may be even more beautiful than Ben Tre. There is less foliage, and a less rural lifestyle, but just as many beautiful waterways. And life is busier. It has a strongly developed feel to it. The vegetation is naturally lighter. There are more floating weeds in the canals. There are more villages clustered up to the water. Also, many of the infamous "monkey bridges" are still intact.

As a parting note, I'd like to mention that there are geckos on the walls in just about every hotel we've been in. This is good, because I have always wanted to visit a country where there are geckos on the walls.

Ben Tre was an adventure - an awesome day of boating followed by a disastrous day of biking that resulted in severe heat exhaustion which it took us several hours of chugging water under the aircon to recover from.

And then, this morning, it's off to Can Tho. And boy did we rough it. We walked from our hotel to the car ferry to My Tho, the hub town from which one accesses the islands of Ben Tre province. We hooked a moto ride to the highway, where we hopped on the bus that travels from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho. We ended up getting to Can Tho in the early afternoon. We caught a cheap motorcab to a cheap, friendly hotel with a good restaurant. We're staying downtown right in the thick of things. The river here is gorgeous, and this is the largest town in the delta, so there's considerably better facilities than in the far boonies of Ben Tre. Our hotel hooked us up with a boatman who is going to give us a day-long tour tomorrow for 3 USD an hour - we're gonna go on a huge, 10 hour tour of the floating markets and various farmland around the province.

Another bonus of being in Can Tho, is they happen to have EXCELLENT local beer! Can Tho Beer is one of the cheapest available at our hotel and prob. the best Vietnamese beer we've tried yet.

Right now, Eric is sitting next to me, playing Warcraft 3 with a local guy, while I'm uploading today's pictures to Facebook. Odd as it may seem, holding your own at Blizzard's games is an outstanding way to meet people in most Asian countries. He currently has a rather sizeable audience.

Having had a good old ramble around Saigon and most of the sights, I was ready for a change of pace, so signed up for a one night two-day tour of the Mekong Delta region.

As we surfaced from the guesthouse at 5.30am the first fingers of light were just beginning to streak a still dark sky.  The local streets were a hive of activity, shops and vendors already doing a roaring trade.  We met our boatman, Han, and we were loaded up with bread, bananas and mugs of tea and coffee.  A short boat ride away and we arrived at his house to watch the sunrise.  We were in luck - a big red sun slowly rose from behind trees across the water, the distinctive palm trees silhouetted against the light.

Despite it being early, the rivers and waterways were teeming with boats of all sizes and shapes, intent on doing business.  Huge wooden pot- bellied boats, laden with earth, sand, stone or grain, chugged slowly by, sunk low in the water.  Smaller cargo boats were packed with wares for the market, whilst small ferries crowded with bikes and school children, scuttled from one side of the river to the other.  Many of the boats acted as homes too, with the rears hung with drying clothes and colourful pot plants.

We headed for the floating market at Cai Rang, just a few kilometers from Can Tho.  Large boats anchored in position were piled with cabbages, onions, melons and various other fruits and vegetables.  Small skiffs bobbed about in between, stopping here and there to do some purchasing.  We didn't linger long, and were soon off to the next market, Phong Dien, much further down the river.  This market contained lots of small skiffs selling pineapples, huge bunches of spring onions, papayas, coconuts, mangos and much more.  It felt much more intimate, with lots of small boats weaving around each other.  We drew up alongside a boat selling pineapples and bought two for us to share - they were delicious.  As we munched, we watched the women in traditional 'nom la'- conical hats - as they threaded their way through the market, gossiping, laughing, bargaining.  It is certainly more interesting than the sanitised way we shop back home, mostly devoid of human interaction.

We had told Han we wanted to buy a Jack Fruit, but there were none on the floating market so we went into one of the nearby land markets where he showed us around explaining what various fruits were, we bought a couple of things then went for a beer with him - at this point it felt like lunchtime but was only actually  9.00am!

We then had a tour of a few of the thousands of smaller waterways and canals that make up the Mekong Delta.  The water dictates people's lives here -  they wash and bathe in it, base their livelihoods on it, and throw their rubbish in it.  It also gives rise to the lush vegetation found here that enables a multitude of things to be grown.  We were able to see people's homes built on stilts above the water and wave to the children returning from school on their bicycles.

Then it was back to Han's house where his wife cooked us lunch, a feast of fish, tofu, noodles, salad and banana wine.  Diane was the only one who noticed Han eat a fish eyeball, picking it out deftly with his chopsticks.  She wished she hadn't.  After many a "Yo!" (Vietnamese for 'cheers') accompanying our shots of banana wine, we were returned to Can Tho and a much needed siesta.

We hired a car to take us back to Saigon as we were hoping to get on a cargo ferry to My Tho in the Mekong Delta.  These plans didn't work as it took ages to get back to Saigon; when we got there it was too difficult to find where the cargo ferry would leave from and by this time we had probably missed it anyway!

So onto plan B.  We got to the bus station and then into a minibus to Can Tho - the four of us and lots of Vietnamese.  It was a long day's travel with us arriving at about 5pm.  The last couple of hours of the journey proved to be very interesting.  We started to criss cross many rivers and canals, and we began to feel as though we were entering the delta.  At one point we started to slow down and the driver's mate signalled to us to shut our curtains.  We began to feel a sense of paranoia and wondered whether it was standard practice to smuggle foreigners into the Mekong Delta.  The reason soon became apparent however.  The minibus was queueing to get on the next passenger ferry, and lots of vendors and beggars crowded around the van.  We think he had asked us to close the curtains to protect us from all the harassment .  It was a little unnerving though when one man actually climbed up to the windows trying to see through the gaps in the curtain.  We soon got onto the ferry and it was great to get off the bus and stretch our legs.  The driver's mate pointed out two large towers some distance away and told us that a bridge was being built with Japanese help.  Earlier we had crossed a huge bridge that spanned the Mekong, built with Australian help.  It was good to see these successful construction projects in evidence, after so much destruction of Vietnam's infrastructure during the war.

We were soon off the ferry and into the town of Can Tho, the provincial capital of the Mekong Delta.  We piled our packs onto two 'Xe Loi' - motorised cyclos - and headed for our guesthouse.  Over a beer, the owner organised us a tour of the floating markets for tomorrow, the only drawback being a very early start. 

We had an excellent meal in one of the riverside restaurants, and then it was off to bed.

If you’re looking for some new exotic flavor, nothing’s worth a ride over Mekong. Then you’ll enjoy the richness of this river. You’ll stop first in Mytho before heading north to Cantho.