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Another early start and another time to say goodbye, this time to Chris and Alex. Although sad to be leaving them I was also excited to be having my own adventure again! Another drawn out bus ride and we arrive at the delta ready to explore new delights. As we cruise down the delta we are treated to some floating markets...admittedly I was slightly disappointed and thought they'd be larger and more 'active'!?! We stop at a cocout candy store...amazing! As well as watching them make rice cakes - where they flatten the rice out. also saw them making 'popping' rice (rice crispies to us) which were then made into cake type things. Stopped for lunch where I got chatting to a girl who i think (and now know) was on the boat in Halong Bay (a played dumb and admitted no knowledge of drunken behaviour!) We were treated to some local musical treats (all sounding quite suicidal) before getting back on the boat for a bit more of a cruise! Here the group split and a small number of us carry on to the town where we spend the night. It was here that i met my roomate, Avien. When I agreed to a roomshare, I didn't really expect them to match me up with a bloke - had he been fit I wouldn't have complained, but a middle-aged Isrealie was not my cut of tea! I had a restless night sleep, aware of every noise in the room, and was relieved when the 6am wake-up call came! All was going a bit smoothly for my liking, so when the toilet wasn't flushing down I thought I'd do a bit of DIY...this proved fatal. As I fiddled with the ball c*** the whole thing detatched itself, spraying water all over me. Sadly my roomy had already left. I did the best fix job I could, squeezing two ends together until water stopped firing at me...I closed the door, went downstairs and didn't go back!!! Sorry!
After breakfast we loaded on to a series of row boats where we were guided through floating villages! This was absolutely amazing and more what I expected. We drifted right through their villages, able to look into the houses and see how simple life was for them. They had everything they could possibly need right there in their houses, no luxuaries or unnecessary items, and seemed content with everything. Electricity cables hung overhead and a series of markets were set up accordingly! We stopped at a fish breeding farm whereby the fish lived in cages under the decking and then onto a silk-making shop (all for show I'm sure) but amazing to see all the same! Here we split again, and five of us went on cruising for approx two hrs to the boarder. Here I was with an Oz couple and we chatted continuously...really nice to chat with people who speak the same language - conversation was just effortless! After lunch we joined with yet anothr group, and here I was reunited with familiar faces. Firstly Eve, a lady who I'd met at a busstop in Mui Ne who, at the time annoyed me as she knew everything and had done everything the best way possible! As we cruised along the river the lad opposite seemed vaguely familiar, however, he had a similar look to that of a lot of travellers so just put it to that. He wasn't very chatty (later found out due to him being irritated by Eve and not out of rudeness!). Conversation started a little and then it emerged that we had met, very drunkenly, and at the time had agreed to travel together through Vietnam (but he forgot my name so couldn't get in touch!) It was his boat that I had swam to in Halong Bay, some 3wks earlier! (very small world!) As we chatted and cruised we became completely in ore of our surroundings. Life became even more simplistic, people using the land to it's full potential, working so hard, yet seemed so happy! The peopl, and children in particualr would jump up and down waving, so excited to see us! It was such an amazing experience to see such sights! After hrs of cruising (longer than advertised!) we eventually made it to Cambodian land, before being faced with a further hr bus ride before getting to our hotel. After the drawn out day Cole and I met for dinner, followed by some well deserved beers, Connect4 and trivial pursuit (not my favourite game my nice to challenge my intellectual capabilities all the same!)
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