I have noticed in Vietnam that the adults ride their motor-scooters wearing helmets whilst their children have no head protection, what's that all about?! As you would expect, things in South East Asia are very different compared with back home. There only seems to be one rule out here on the roads and that's toot your horn at every opportunity - it gets very annoying. Despite being annoying, watching the daily rush hour traffic is very entertaining.

Our first leg of the journey was up the river to the floating markets. 16,000 dong per kg of noodles wholesale price with a minimum order of 20kg... wow that's cheap at 50p. At these prices I can see why the restaurants only charge 45,000 dong for a bowl of beef noodle soup (£1.50p). The market was in full flow as we arrived. We saw traders buying watermelons, mangos and various other types of fruit and veg. We bobbed up and down as we weaved in and out of the trading boats selling to smaller boats. The water a thick brown with weed and litter floating around, we watched as families had breakfast and children played on the boats. Washing hung from the rear of the boats and the odd vessel had a plant or small tree on board - a distinct sign that it was home. The market was impressive and just as I had remembered it from before. At any one time there can be up to 1000 vessels on the river trading.

After the floating market we visited a rice factory and a noodle factory. When I say factory I didn't mean Cadbury's or Honda in Swindon. These factories are more like shanty town style sheds on the river banks. Their interiors exposed to the elements and and rodents that wish to visit. The ceiling covered in dust and the exteriors and interiors in need of a good lick of paint. Despite this we learned about the various stages involved in making rice and noodles. The factories produced thousands of kg's of rice or noodles every year. It was fascinating to learn about the production techniques. One fact in particular that I found interesting was Vietnam is number one in the World for rice production...now there's a fact for the pub quiz.

Our bus journey after lunch was tedious. The bus was designed for Asian's not Europeans. The tour was over subscribed and along with additional baggage for the 3 day tour there was hardly any room on the bus. Luckily Ju had managed to get a seat near the front of the bus where we had more leg room. Even so, having broad shoulders we were scrunched up against each for the full 3 hours of the journey with brief respite at a crocodile farm. The farm was interesting for two reasons. Firstly I have never seen so many croc's located in one place together. Secondly, I have never seen baby ducks swimming with croc's. Sadly the ducks weren't there for fun. They had been fed to the croc's - the idea being that as live meat they increase the croc's litter rate from 10 eggs to around 20. If that's true I can see the logic. However, I wasn't prepared to see that this afternoon. I will never look at a cute little yellow duck in the same way again without thinking of that moment!

Our accommodation was a floating hotel on the Mekong Delta. It was quite a cool location, but really hot. Unfortunately we had no air conditioning. Despite this we had a lovely evening meal. We watched a German girl in the restaurant trying to order rice with garlic. The Vietnamese waiter called for backup as he didn't seem to understand what she was saying. Amusingly she got louder and louder. More amusingly the Vietnamese restaurant staff conversed amongst themselves - their Vietnamese sounding more like cats trapped in an ally meowing! Back at the room we lay on the bed motionless and sweated all night long.