Having started its journey in the mountains of Tibet the Mekong river snakes through it 2,5000 mile journey into China, Laos and Cambodia before it emerges in the plains of the Mekong Delta, in the south of Vietnam. Here, it dominates the landscape, forming rivers and channels that spread like rivulets of rain that drip down a window pane. As the worlds second largest exporter of rice, this area, known as the rice basket of Vietnam, is sown with rice paddies and soya bean fields to feed the nation. We came to the town of Can Tho in the Mekong Delta to experience the rural life of Vietnam, which varies considerabley to that of the big cities. Whilst you are able to drive here it entails taking taking a number of ferryie to cross the meandering rivers that intersect the land. The government is gradually building more and more bridges in the area, to ensure the safe passage for car ferries, but for now many of the major routes are dominated by car/passenger ferries for safe travel across the river. Can Tho itself is a bustling town that thrives on the banks of the Can Tho river, one of the many tributaries of the Mekong. There is little tourism in the area so the local economy pretty much depends on the trade between farmers and retailers for the fruits and vegetables which are grown on the plains. It is a real experience to see the markets in action so we hired a small boat and driver for the day and went up river to the Can Rai floating market which starts its business for the day at the ungodly hour of 6am, whihc meant we were on the boat at 5.30am. It meant we could see the sun rise over the Mekong as it became alive with boats and people. Just a few short kilometers from the main town, the river was strewn with boats of all shapes and sizes, each laden with their own wares for sale. This seemed much more like a wholesale market, with the larger boats selling large quantities of fruits and vegetables to smaller ones, for resale in the smaller markets. Each boat seemed to specialise in one or two items, ranging from pineapples, guavas and rambutan (red spiky fruit with flesh like a lychee) to cabbage, rice and spring onions. Amazingly, these boats not only acted as the shop but also as the home for the family - which must be quite an experience as each was packed to the brim with its own particular type of foodstuff - not a great call if you sell springonions or garlic! It was a novel experience to slowly manoeuvre between the boats. Occasionally we would be asked if we wanted to buy and once or twice someone would just throw a piece of fruit to us - they seem to find it an odd thing that we want to come and see the markets in action, after all this is their normal everyday life. Further up river we visited a smaller floating market which seemed more like trade between the locals. No large boats here, just small rowing boats with a few bits and pieces on board to sell or swap with their neighbours. These are strange types of boats. All operated by women, old and young alike, they stand up to operate the oars which stick out of the water and are tied to the uprights with bits of string . The women just stand on the back of the boat and push forwards and backwards to move the oars through the water - effective but slow going. The market was packed and once or twice we just had to sit in the boat and wait for a space to open up so that we could move on through. Once we had seen the markets we explored some of the smaller channels in the river. Each is dotted with small homes on its banks, though there seem to be no villages or communities as a whole. There were a wide variety of buildings from the bamboo huts we expected to see to fairly modern brick buildings that were colourfully decorated against the skyline. Each stands guard over its own piece of land that harvests the rice and soya beans for the family table - with perhaps a little leftover for sale. One of the common denominators of all the places in Asia that we have visited, is that the more rural you get the more friendly the people. Kids and adults alike would wave frantically from the banks of the river with enormous smiles - though not all with a full set of gnashers - waiting for us to wave back. The really funny thing was that when we did wave they would burst into giggles, as though we had done something really funny - the same goes for when you try and speak a little of the local language. It's probably due to the fact that in these rural parts of the river, the get to see very westerners and we were a curiousity to them. On this trip we also got to visit a small factory making rice papers, which are used for making spring rolls. When we say factory don't operate under the misconception of a modern buidling with machinary everywhere - this was the backroom of somebody's house where a fire had been built to cook the papers, which are basically made from the starch water of rice. We guess this is the Vietnam version of the old production line! Further on our journey we were able to see some of the traditional monkey bridges that cross the channels of the river. No more than a small tree trunk nestling between the banks, perhaps with a handrail tied on for "security" the locals would run across with great dexterity. For us it was a different matter, holding on for dear life. The government is planning to eventually replace these with concrete versions, as a safer crossing option, but as they stand now they add to the experience of rural life on the river. Afetr a couple of days here, we are now heading north along the coast to the town of Hoi An.