Mekong Delta (Chau Doc & Vinh Long - Vietnam): 6th April - 9th April 2011

We boarded the boat to Chau Doc, our first stop in the Mekong Delta and indeed in Vietnam. It feels very surreal to be in Vietnam and a massive milestone on our trip. It is difficult and a little bit sad to believe that we have now left Thailand, Laos and Cambodia behind us but very exciting at the same time. Time is passing so quickly now and our time on the Trans-Siberian Railway feels like a blur! We have been keeping track of various bits & pieces as we go and we are now on day 92 (only 206 to go!!), have been on 25 tuk-tuks, slept in 41 different beds and travelled over a staggering 22,000 miles!

Our boat trip down the river and across the border was very relaxing and the scenery was amazing.

After a couple of hours we got off the boat to clear the Cambodian Customs then back on for a short 2 minute trip further down stream to clear Vietnam Customs. The customs offices on the river are much more laid back and relaxed (except Laos which was chaos!) than the airport ones which are like a military procession. In fact, at the Vietnam border one of our boat crew collected all of our passports and took them off to the customs office for processing. We were then all filed back on to the boat without anyone checking that we actually matched the passports!

As we entered the Delta region the river became much busier and much more industrial than we have seen so far. Certain areas of the river are extremely shallow so there are numerous dredgers dotted around digging up the sand from the river bed to keep the river deep enough for the boats to pass through. The sand is then either used locally (in Ho Chi Minh City) for construction or landfill or if of a higher quality, exported abroad. There were also a lot of smaller cargo boats taking goods to the villages or markets and ferries transporting hoards of locals and their motorbikes to various islands in the Delta. The views never ceased to be interesting and we have more photo's of boats of various shapes and sizes than you could possibly imagine!!!

Chau Doc is the first town of any size across the border and is a fascinating small Delta town where motorcycles and bicycles are in abundance. Usually when we arrive in a new place the first time, we look for a tuk-tuk or taxi to take us to our hotel, but to our surprise there was not a tuk-tuk or taxi in sight. Instead we were approached by a cyclo driver (push bike with small passenger trailer attached) who offered to take us to our hotel. I was wondering how on earth we were both supposed to fit on with our rucksacks but I didn't wonder for long when he pointed at me and said "You on there" as he then pointed to a motorbike which I had the pleasure of riding on the back of (in a dress and flip-flops!). Dan rode on the cyclo with all of our bags. It was only the day before that we had a conversation about whether or not we would get on the back of a motor bike without the usual armoury you would wear on a bike in the UK, and I seem to recall the comment that we wouldn't do it at home so why would we do it here!! Its a different matter when you don't have any choice. Needless to say, the following day we hired a couple of motor bikes to take us to the top of Sam Mountain to check out the view!!

After our mountain trip the next day we headed down to the posh Victoria hotel on the waterfront and treated ourselves to a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches, 4 glasses of wine at $7 a glass and beers for Dan. Ok, I know it doesn't sound that extravagant but on our budget and compared to the pretty disgusting meal the night before and the crummy hotel that we were staying in, it was a very posh affair indeed! In fact, my wine cost more than our hotel for 2 nights!

We also had an interesting trip to the post office to post a small gift to Dan's niece for her birthday. With censorship at its very best we were not allowed to include a small note to wish her a happy birthday. We (I) have also noted that there is no Facebook access so apologies to those of you who are reading the blog on Facebook - there will probably be no update feed from us for a couple of months as we are off to China next and there is no access there either!

After a couple of days in Chau Doc we headed to Vinh Long which is further into the Delta region and a good base for touring the river and canals. Unfortunately we had to get the bus there as there are no tourist boats on this route. We had a transfer to the bus station organised through a travel agent based at a hotel a couple of streets away from our hotel, so we loaded up with our bags and trudged round the corner at 7am to catch our lift. We were the first to be picked up and the mini bus driver insisted on playing his Vietnamese hip hop CD at maximum volume as we headed off around the town to pick up the other passengers. After 20 minutes or so, and fully laden with the other passengers and their bags, we arrived at the 'coach station' which turned out to be back where we started, directly opposite our hotel. The second time that has happened on our trip!! Deep joy!

After a 5 hour coach ride with more very loud screeching music and some live chickens on the back seat, we reached the bus station at Vinh Long, about 6 km outside of the town centre. Our transport from here to the centre was a motorbike each and this time the driver squeezed our big rucksacks on to their laps whilst we perched on the back with our smaller day packs on our backs.

Vinh Long is described as having a 'Riviera atmosphere' and I have to say that really is a very generous description. It is a bustling town with one main street crammed with market stalls sprawling into the back streets selling all sorts of weird and wonderful things, mainly foodstuffs including lots of fresh fruit and veg but also lots of snakes, eels, octopus, squid, shrimps, fish, etc - some of it already dead and some of it most definitely not!.

From Vinh Long we took a Mekong Tour which was a fascinating day full of interesting sights and information about daily life on the river. The trip included a visit to a floating market where the locals from the smaller islands brought their produce to sell wholesale to the shops and market stalls on the bigger islands. Next we visited a family run business where we watched a number of goods being produced including, peanut brittle, pop rice, rice paper for spring rolls, coconut candy, and sea salt being purified into table salt. We had the pleasure of sampling all of the produce and were also treated to a shot of snake wine - 45% proof alcohol complete with fermenting snakes!!!

The trip also included a visit to a fruit farm where we sampled more of the produce including mango and jack fruit, a display of traditional music (topped off with a rendition of Auld Lang Syne!), a ride in a Sanpan (small canoe), a slap up lunch and a trip to a brick factory. The brick factory sounds very odd but it was actually really interesting seeing the huge kilns blazing away with over 100,000 bricks in each one cooking at over 900 degrees for around one month - Maxine, you can tell Iona that I will fill her in on the details when I get back!!

So, tomorrow we leave the Delta and are heading to Ho Chi Minh City but we have really enjoyed our time here (despite one or two dodgy meals and hotels!).

Hope everyone is good at home and enjoying the spring weather. Do keep in touch. The comedy chat room (aka our blog) is very entertaining and we love reading all of your messages - even the random Asda ones!

Take care,

Sue & Dan xxx