Mekong Delta Tour

It was yet again another early start for me today as I waited for a bus to take me for a tour of the Mekong Delta, south of Ho Chi Minh City. I was looking forward to a leisurely boat ride down the river as opposed to the madness of the city. The bus took a while to reach the Delta but nowadays I'm pretty used to long bus/train journeys so 8 hours just isn't a problem anymore. Its strange to think that I used to think London to Manchester was a long journey (3-3 and a half hours). It just really goes to show what a tiny island I really live on back home.

Eventually we reached our destination, boarded a nice comfortable boat and set off down the huge Mekong river. The boat ride was nice and relaxing as we cruised down the past river boats, fishing boats and small hut like houses on the river.

As we came to narrower sections of the delta we boarded small boats with a couple of people to paddle us down the narrow river ways. We were surrounded by over hanging palms and jungle on either side, the scene reminded me of the Vietnam war film, "Apocalips Now".

We stopped off at various places along the way to see some touristy type sights such as how they make sweets from coconuts etc before heading to the South's second biggest city, Can Tho. We were booked into a Hotel near the centre of Can Tho, somehow I managed to get a room to myself when I was really supposed to be sharing. In the evening I ventured the streets to check out what was going on and to hunt down a cash point in the dark. The city itself felt pretty cool and laid back although many of the locals did seem to be pretty surprised to see me walking around on my own.

I eventually found a cash point after playing "frogger" with motorbikes crossing the crazy roads. I withdrew some money then marched off confidently round the corner in the hope that it would put off any potential muggers in the area. I found myself walking down the river front where I found a nice, cheap restaurant with beer for roughly 50p (yes for a big bottle of Saigon beer!). I went to bed pretty early as we had an early start at 6:30 for the second day of the Mekong Delta tour. I won't bore you with the details of this day as it was pretty much more of the same but I did really enjoy it and it was a welcome change to the city or viewing various temples etc. The tour only cost 15 US Dollars and seemed to be great value considering the night in a hotel.