After a couple of hectic nights in Ho Chi Minh City we made our way to the heart of the Mekong Delta, to a region in south-western Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea.

Life in the Mekong Delta pretty much revolves around the river and it was here that I was about to encounter my first homestay in Asia.

We took a private mini bus to the river which was about 3hours away and then hopped on a long boat up the river and towards our base for the evening.

On route the ways of life are quite eye opening. A lot of these villages are only accessible by rivers and canals and people have literally built their lives on here. We stopped on route at a rice factory (nothing like a factory we would have over here, simply a wooden hut on stilts built into the river banks). The next stop was a blacksmiths and rather weirdly a coffin factory...I didn't get too close incase they stored more than just the coffins here!!! Eeek well you never know in these places!!!

The working conditions are sad, families work endlessly and all the work is done by hand, hour after hour with very little breaks. However when you visit these people they are happy, after all most of them won't know life to be any different.

By the time we had visited numerous places and gained a real insight to village life it was time to stop for lunch. We pulled up on our boat and headed over to an area which had 2 tables set up solely for our group. It looked quaint :) !! The food was delicious, maybe not to everyones liking but you just have to try things over here and dive in!! To start with we had a chicken noodle soup, learnt how to make our own fresh spring rolls, sampled a tastey elephant fish with steamed rice and rather large prawns! Desert was fruit and tea...and more tea...and tea! They love their tea!

After lunch it was back into our boats-we all ate so much I'm surprised it was still afloat! We stopped off at the bonsai gardens and got served more fruit and you'll never guess what else...yes more tea!!

When we finally arrived at our homestay I was surprised at how nice it was! I expected basic, meaning very little running water (if any) no electric and well pretty grim surroundings, however you could tell the family had clearly made an effort. The room we slept in had about 8 beds in all with beautiful pink mosquito nets! The bathroom area was sufficient-western toilet and a shower! Ok it was a cold shower but heck when it's that hot outside you really appreciate the freshness! Before I got chance to see anything else we were given some push bikes and taken on a bike ride around the village...funniest thing ever!! the bikes were hilarious! ok so mine was huge, I couldn't touch the floor, the seat didn't move because it was so old and rusty and well the brakes?? haha what brakes!! Everytime I went up hill the gears broke so I had to jump off and push it! Wicked fun though!

We biked firstly to this gorgeous house, a French Colonial 1925 house which was the wealthiest in the community. In 1975 the family lost unfortunately lost the land that went with it. When we entered we sat in a lounge area which was gorgeously decorated. The family then sang to us and played instruments for us and served us fruit and tea!

So after that little rest is was back onto the rust bucket bikes and further into the village! I was more concerned about trying not to cause injury to myself or others and the fact that some local flung a chicken in my face certainly did not help!!! I absolutely shat myself much to a bunch of amused locals! I was soon cheered up however by Sharon. She was riding ahead of me and Todd and seemed to wobble slightly whilst heading round a corner! The wobble turned into the funniest fall ever! She kind of fell off and round down an embankment and into a whole!! The grass was so long and her bum had fallen so far down that all I could actually see was her head and feet both next to each other!! She was screaming but all I could do was laugh!! I was in tears!! Fortunately our leader ran to her rescue and she was ok I just wish I had filmed it! For the rest of the evening she walked around with a very muddy bottom!

Minutes later we arrived back at our home and freshened up. We didn't change as we could only take a limited overnight bag and only had enough clothes for the next day. Instead we chilled over a few beers and then helped the family with dinner preparations.

The meal was again delicious and consisted of fish, fresh spring rolls, steamed rice, a chicken dish and vegetables. We relaxed over dinner then enjoyed a quiz which was organised by Todd, our leader, before heading to bed ready for an early start in the morning.

I slept really well at the homestay and got up bright and early for a refreshing cold shower. We were given breakfast which was an omelette-with a lot of grease :-/ EUGH and some lovely fresh bread rolls served with jam and butter.

We had to leave the homestay early as we had a full day of activities planned. We headed back down the river on our long boats towards the floating markets where they sell EVERYTHING! we then visited a sweet making place where we tasted freshly made toffee.

After an amazing experience and insight into Mekong Delta life it was time to head back into the chaos of Ho Chi Minh City, pick up our main backpacks, quickly freshen up and prepare ourselves for an overnight train to Nha Trang.

We managed to get a courtesy room at the hotel we had stayed at previously so at least we managed to shower and sort out our backpacks before heading to the train station late that night...slightly nervous about the condition of these trains but here goes...wish me look!! :-)

Life in the Mekong Delta revolves much around the river, and many of the villages are often accessible by rivers and canals rather than by road.