Just to keep you entertained this is jennifers version of the mekong trip. Feel free to play spot the difference...... 

..so the Mekong delta is a network of rivers and small canals in the south of Vietnam, this is the same river that we travelled down when we came from thailand into Laos. (You'll forgive me, spending lots of time with people who speak in English as their second language, european friends we have made, I end up with a very strange kind of word order myself.) So we started out on day one with a guide called Tam, who evan referred to as diego for his resemblance to MAradona. He had a funny way of searching for a word in english and moving his eyes so he looked dead shifty .. we get on de bus, then some tourist, they get off de bus and they go to Chau Doc, the other tourist, they stay on de bus... excellent and very informative. We had a lazy day the first day, travelling along hte Mekong and also exploring all the little canals. We met a north london couple zoe and steve, and also an aussie couple who Mother would describe as a "hoot" in their 50s. Spend the day hopping on and off boats and having fruit ( to the sound of amateur local musicians hmmm) then lunch in an orchard, then to a coconut candy making workshop, then ending up in Can Tho. Had a nice meal out with people from our tour - sour and spicy fish soup - yum. and celebrated a jewish festival with a few beers with Zoe and STeve and an Israeli couple ( we meet a lot of Dutch people and a lot of Israelis!)

The best bit about the Mekong is just the scenery - lots of houses on stilts on the riverside, lots of poverty I think, and just watching the local people going about their business on the river is very interesting, washing in the river, basically all affairs conducted around the water.

The next day was a hideous early start for stockpiling of breakfast bananas for me ( fairly standard) and to the floating market at Can Tho - very interesting as the boats all hoist a sample of their wares on a large stick like a flag! Most of the group went back to Ho Chi Min at that point and we stayed on to Chau Doc via a Crocodile farm. Then we climbed Sam Mountain which was another exampel of something beautiful ( the Wat there, and the view) completely eclipsed by a load of litter. But as we discussed since, not so long ago these countries all their litter was degradable, and now they have plastic but they do what they have always done ie throw it on the street. So vietnam is very full of litter. Saw a lovely view of the Cambodian border and then collapsed in a big heap in Chau Doc. Could only manage to stumble to the end of the road to perch on some plastic stools to eat Pho( noodle soup) with some locals ( even tho evan actually ordered crispy fried noodles...) (imagine my disappointed at getting Pho)

The next day our group was down to 7, so we teamed up with a similar tour whose footsteps we'd been treading in for the last few days, and met Lore (said Laura) and Annika from Belgium and Xavier and Sonia from Madrid on the long boat ride to the border. This started with a visit to a fish farm and a Cham minority village. You'll remember the Cham temples at My Son, well the Cham minority village was interesting. Here is my Cham Minority Report ( as it were...) (snap)

Lots of children selling 5 cakes, 6 cakes or 7 cakes for a dollar, the minute we crossed the monkey bridge ( ie a very rickety bride consisting of a couple of logs) and insistently asking us to buy the cakes. Hard to explain in vietnamese a dairy intolerance but there you go. We didn't feel too bad though as we saw that some of the villagers had Cham Minority Mobile phones and even and Cham Minority Play Station. So hey, no guilt re the non purchasing of cakes.

Had fun chatting to new friends on the boat which was SO hot. Herded through the border crossing, border guard clearly bit of a joker and keeping all the girls waiting for ages whilst he studied their photos and looked suspicious. hmmm. From boat to bus - about 30 people crammed into a very small mini bus and there is an interesting combination of roads in Cambodia... quite good and basically a pile of rocks and dust, so journey very mixed.

Arrived in Phnom Penh and were organised by the Aussie guys on the bus to all go out for dinner... but I'll leave our Cambodian adventures for another time.....