28 degC 88% humidity Kim had arranged for us to be picked up at 5:30am to visit the floating markets. Wendy let the boys go without her as she had done floating markets before. She waited for them to return before having breakfast which was a bit rushed due to the scheduled departure time, but we all made it. We drove about 10km out of city before riding. About 1km later we queued to board the ferry to an island in the Delta, before riding another 10km to the other side where we caught another ferry to another "island". About 25km further and we were on our last ferry for the day to the other bit of "mainland". The route was a mix of smooth bitumen, smooth concrete with rough joins, hard packed gravel and downright lumpy and potholed dirt tracks. Some were dusty and some were a little muddy/wet. Some were narrow (barely allowing cyclist and scooter/motorbike to pass going in opposite direction) and some were quite spacious. The narrow paths were down with the local population and we got to see most phases of the rice growing process today which was probably the most interesting bit of the day. Lunch was at local roadside authentic restaurant and the food was ok and plentiful, and had the cleanest restrooms so far (apart from the hotels, of course). We thought we were going directly to hotel after lunch but went to some Khmer Museum and to see some "upside down" trees. The legend has it that the trees were planted upside down and if they survived, the local village was likely to survive and thrive as well. To us, it looked as though the trees were planted the right way up, just the root system had been exposed to many a flood over a number of years. When we did arrive at the hotel , it looked amazing from outside - just like the one in Kep. And inside it looked like Kep as well - very unfinished and run down. The bathroom was the weirdest with a bath with a shower nozzle on the end of a hose! We thought we'd have a bath, btu when we tried the taps, only a trickle came out and it would have taken all night just to get enough water to have a "bird bath". So we persevered with the nozzle and managed to get without flooding the bathroom. Aircon worked very well though. Room 314 in Nha Khach Hotel in Tra Vinh For some reason, the guides today seemed more interested in themselves rather than leading and guiding. Mr Visa was also riding with us because we were on narrow tracks and needed a leader and a tail-end-charlie. However, Kim spent much of the first part of the day chasing a girls, and when we wasn't doing that he was up the front chatting with Visa instead of taking care of the riders who stopped to take photos. Anyway, we all made it. After "showering" we met downstairs to find a place to have a few beers before dinner, as although there was a pool, it was very green and we were told to not use it!! The first place we came to was a nice open air joint and we decided this would be the place. After ordering four beers and a fruit drink for Mark (he does not drink beer), Bob was given two packets of "snacks" (turned out to be watermelon seeds and something else we cold not identify. We hoped the watermelon seeds were not the ones people spit out when eating the melon!!). We were then asked to pay upfront and it was the most interesting part of the day. They didn't speak English and of course none of us speak Vietnamese, so after much gesticulating and punching of numbers on calculators, we figured it out. Worked out the beers were just under AUD1 each, with Mark's drink about the same and the "free" snacks were about 50c each! After all that fund we decided to stay and have another round which made the ladies day. Dinner at another very local restaurant just down the road from where we had the beers and we walked. We have driven shorter distances however they were probably thinking about parking and therefore had us walk which was fine by us. A variety of dishes were served, including dog, we firmly believe. When Mr Visa served it and we asked what it was he said "woof, woof" with a great big smile, as if to say "aren't you pleased we are serving you one of our local delicacies?" We were not at all impressed, and only Bob and Bill were game enough to try it. Whilst we acknowledge it is their practice, we don't necessarily have to condone it by eating it. A nice walk home settled the dinner.