HOMESTAY SWEET HOMESTAY

DAY 59: Mekong Delta

I was awoken at 4.30am today by a cockerel's morning call. What? Wouldn't have minded too much if we were in the countryside, but we were in the middle Ho Chi Minh City. We had to be up at 6am for our trip to the Mekong Delta, the lifeblood of Vietnam where the Mekong river splits into a network of thousands of smaller rivers and rice paddies before it meets the sea. Our hosts for the evening are a Vietnamese family who live on the Delta.

The bus journey to our rendezvous with a small boat was a quick four hours as there were just the seven of us on the private tour which made for a chatty journey making time fly. We met the boat and boarded for a short transfer to a small secluded hideaway. It felt like entering the 'I'm a Celebrity...' jungle.

At the entrance to the hosts' home was a makeshift bar which the locals use, including a pool table and karaoke machine. This was going to be good fun. We were shown to a large outdoor room which had four 'double beds' in, so we'd all be sleeping together tonight - intimate! The beds were essentially a large, low level dining table with a very thin padded quilt for a mattress and a couple of pillows.

A beautiful home-cooked lunch was laid on for us, consisting of fresh fish, sausage meat, cooked papaya and quail's egg casserole and rice which was delicious. And, of course, fresh fruit afterwards.

Pretty stuffed and tired after lunch, we all had a relaxing sway in the hammocks followed by a lay down on our back-breaking beds. I'm sure it's good for you really. Everyone passed out in the same straight legged position. It looked like a morgue.

Our guide woke us all up at 3pm to go on a bike ride, but the family's bikes were a bit rickety and had no brakes so we had to jump back in the boat and motor down the Mekong to another place. This took us through a yard where they make bricks from the clay gathered from rice fields, the women doing most of the work - a running theme in Vietnam.

We walked down the road to collect our bikes from someone's house/garage which were in a much better condition. Our guide then took us on a leisurely ride through the remote network of narrow paths which were shared with mopeds as well as push bikes and pedestrians. Either side of the path there were either lush green rice fields with the odd person hard at work, or people's homes where the children would laugh at us and shout 'Hello! Hello!' as we rode by. It was a great way to see the intricacies of the Delta as well as the differing Vietnamese, Khmer and Chinese cultures and communities that inhabit the area. And not another tourist in site. The tour company did well on their promise to get off the beaten track.

We stopped at a café by a river for a Pepsi - it was basically a big shed with the classic miniature plastic chairs you see everywhere in Vietnam that make you feel like you're at primary school.

Alex then got a puncture half way round, ironically on one of only two mountain bikes on offer. So Mr Kim, our friendly guide, made a makeshift repair to the tyre using a piece of string tied tightly around the tyre. This nearly got us as far as the mechanic who would eventually fix the tyre, taking us on a bit of a detour from our original route.

Puncture repaired, we hit the road with the light now fading and our 25 minute ride back ended in complete darkness, which made for hair-raising cycling. We shared the bumpy road with motorbikes, cars and lorries who just assume you're going to get out of the way when they toot - they don't bother slowing down or moving much themselves.

Our boat ride down the Mekong back to our homestay was also in complete darkness as the driver only had a small LED light. This was not only to see where he was going, but to also warn other boats, who equally had no lights, where we were. It felt like an undercover SAS mission (and a game of blind boat chicken) although we wouldn't have been that discreet for the noisy clackety engine.

As it was so dark he didn't want to risk meandering down the inlet to our abode, so he kindly dropped us at a long path which led to the home. With no torch, and only a few motorbikes sharing the narrow, tree-lined path, it was down to the trusty iPhone to light the way, as well as a few fireflies.

When we finally got to the house, we had the tricky task of putting our mosquito nets up inside the room, which was more like a big shed with wooden boards for windows and about a metre high open trellis running around the top. The mozzy nets were complicated as there were a few random pieces of string hanging from beams in which to try and erect a safe net. Needless to say we had to be helped out by an amused family member.

After our task was complete, our second one was to make a bucket load of spring rolls for dinner. The novelty of this can wear off after five or six, but it was fun, especially seeing one unravel like a blooming flower bud as Nat placed it on the pile with extreme pride.

We then had an awesome feast on the grass in front the veranda which was fabulous. And an ice cold can of 333 beer to wash it down with to celebrate Jen and I being together five years made it complete. What a great day. Now the challenge is trying to sleep with the jungle chorus in full swing whilst lying on a not-so-padded coffee table.