As our boat slowly trudges it's way though the murky vast expanse of river, we have traded daily battles with the countless mopeds of Saigon for the numerous rowing, long tailed or larger boat traffic of the Mekong Delta. The area is home to 400 km of waterways and a quarter of Vietnam's 80 million population. No where does a country's economy and it's people depend more on a life force of a river than Vietnam! The river not only supplies fish and a crucial transportation route, but more importantly the rice crop of the paddy fields in this area is enough to feed the whole of Vietnam. In fact there is such a surplus that Vietnam is the 2nd highest exporter of rice in Asia behind Thailand, yielding over a billion pounds of income for their developing economy. In addition to the obvious primary use of rice, it is used for other purposes such as making rice paper which case the delicious Vietnamese Spring Rolls, or for making coconut candy or popping corn. All of which we had an opportunity to witness and sample during the tour.

After standing on the source of the Mekong river on the Tibetan plateau, some 6 weeks later we found ourselves cruising along the Mekong Delta where this mighty river meets the South China Sea. The Mekong river is 4500 km long in it's entirety also passing through Laos & Cambodia (where we shall meet it again) before meandering it's way to Vietnam. The mirky coloured uninviting waters are attributed to silt deposits and not the pollution that is so obvious in other rivers such as the Saigon river. The Vietnamese know this essential life-force as a more worthy name of the 'river of nine dragons' due to the 9 forks that flow from the Mekong Delta. Conveniently the number 9 is considered lucky in Vietnam and the ferocious dragon is very important within their culture, thus creating the perfect name!

Tours like the one we took to the Mekong Delta are numerous and high levels of competition ensure the costs remain incredibly low, but if anything they are a little too accommodating to the tourist. Cautious driving coupled with slow traffic mean short journeys are very long, but at least for a change the vehicles are actually road worthy. The journey is made even longer by the insistence on collecting every tourist from their hotel rather than the more sensible 2 or 3 central locations. In typical fashion after we were the first pickup at 7.30am we then found ourself doing laps of the hotel area gathering other tour members. After an hour we did our penultimate pick up just 50 yards from our hotel and then preceded to drive straight past the hotel's front entrance promoting the inevitable frustrated cry of 'i could have had an extra hour in bed'!!

A trip to the Mekong Delta allows a brief glimpse of this most different of lifestyles. Offices, conventional shops and the thought of 9-5 or commuting don't exist. The areas inhabitants live a very simple life on or along the shores of the river. Technology has done little to change the daily rituals, with the stereotypical image of Vietnamese women in conical hats planting or harvesting paddy fields by hand, or water buffalo assisting in dragging old fashioned ploughs still evident. This is a definite image that I associated with Vietnam prior to visiting and given the increased tourism and development of Vietnam, an image that is amazingly still very real!

In navigating one of the many network of shallower canals in a smaller 4 man rowing boat we took the opportunity to don one of these iconic conical hats. It is evident they are not just for show but do have a very practical purpose. They offer rain protection in monsoons but also good protection from the scorching sun!

Schooling is available in the Delta area but at a cost that the majority cannot afford or see little need for. Children therefore spend their days helping their parents, playing in the river or stoking hearty cauldron fires, as we saw one unsupervised 5 year old doing at the coconut candy factory!

Electricity is available to some inhabitants but regardless of whether they have any or not, few households stay up long after dark, with 7.30pm a normal bedtime. It is no wonder that the birth rate is uncontrollably high in this area and parents often have six plus and sometimes as many as ten children. I'm sure due in part to the high numbers of offspring, children are given numbers and not names depending on their order of birth, 1,2,3 etc. The last born is however named as the Vietnamese translation of 'last' which is fine until another one comes along. Apparently if this does happen the newborn baby is named 'more last'!!

Where the staple foods in the Mekong Delta are abundant crops of rice, fish, fruit and vegetables, the real delicacies are probably not to all tastes. Snakes & Turtles are sought after but the favourite dish is rather alarmingly.....'rat'! Our guide informed us 'curried rat' is delicious and country rats taste very different to town rats. Its safe to say we didn't seek out a Vietnamese restaurant instead taking the free lunch option of rice, spring roll, beans and what we think and seriously hope was pork.

Bobbing about in the middle of one of the Delta inlets is one of the 'Floating Markets' selling any fruit, vegetable or fish you could want to buy. Each boat specialising in a particular crop has a bamboo flagstick proudly jutting out holding a sample of their stock. The shop keepers normally consisting of a full family may have brought their crop from as far as 100km away. Even dealing in minimum sales of 10 kilos they may sometimes float about for up to a month before their load is sold and they can take the 2 day journey home. The well used hammocks swinging on the deck of each of the boats providing the daily entertainment.

Visiting the Mekong Delta from Saigon is a long day but worth every sway and bump of the slow bus ride in order to see this alien existence in 'water world'. I'm not sure many of the locals would understand the terms 'offside', 'birdie' or 'LBW' and although relaxed and mortgage free it may be, it certainly is not the life for me! So back to Saigon and bars showing live football and cricket, before we take the bus to a beach resort further north....