As we handed over the cash to Lam the previous evening, Sue said "Well, if we're going to get ripped off in Vietnam, it just happened". She was right in thinking that because when you book things off the beaten track, you can get taken for a ride. More concern set in when we got a phonecall that night from Lam. Her mother had fallen very ill and was travelling via bus to the city to go to the hospital. Lam was unable to take us on the tour but assured us that her replacement would meet us in the lobby in the morning.

Thankfully when we went downstairs at 8am, we were met cheerfully by Tau who bundled us into the bus and away we went. It was about 1.5 hours to the Mekong but there was plenty to see along the way. Tau's English wasn't quite as good as Lam's so we had difficulty understanding her explanation of things. We struggled by and got an understanding of the history including the Chinese influence many centuries ago.

Vietnam is a country of extremes - appaling poverty side by side with decadent luxuries. Our friend described it as "the most capitalistic communist country he'd ever visited", and he wasn't wrong. Some houses looked like palaces and right next door, rusty roofed shacks with bare dirt floors. The agriculture in the delta is amazing. Rice paddy's seem to fill any vacant land available and are often surrounded by banana trees and various other crops.

When we arrived at the dock, the rain was absolutely torrential. Tau gave us some thin rain covers to try and at least keep us a little dry. The boat was a rugged wooden vessel with four legged chairs on the deck. On closer inspection they were in fact fixed to the floor... a rusty piece of wire on one leg. As we putted up the river the rain continued to pelt down. Despite that, we were still able to see some wonderful sights. Our guide steered us over to a tributary of the river, a norrow palm lined waterway. When we got to our destination, Tau led us to a small open air tea house where we were served honey sweetened tea and various fruits. There where musicians playing traditional instruments and singing. We looked at how they made coconut sweets and picked up a couple of packs for 30,000 dong (approx $2.50 Aus).

The rain had eased up slightly and we walked along a narrow track and Tau pointed out various fruit trees including Vietnamese plum, jackfruit, cocoa, longan and mango. Some very soggy looking roosters crossed our path but disppeared into the undergrowth. When we emerged from the bush we hopped on a horsedrawn cart and got ferried down the road about 1km to a small jetty where we boarded a small canoe. We took turns in paddling and eventually made it back to where our skipper was waiting to take us back to shore.

We stopped for lunch at a very big open air restaurant where the local specialty was served - elephant ear fish. Not being big seafood eaters, Sue and Daniel were a little unsure about it but combined with various salad, herbs, wrapped in rice paper and dipped in sweet sauce, they were very pleased with the flavour. Lunch was included in the tour so we sampled quite a few different things. The puffed sticky rice balls were both delicious and fascinating. They ranged in size from a basket ball to a softball and we took photos of the chef cooking them in a wok.

Overall it was a fantastic day and well worth the commute that distance. One thing we've noticed is that the local currency has a habit of evaporating very quickly. 100,000 dong is only about $5 AUD, so when you think you're cashed up for the day with a wallet full of notes, you can get caught out. Especially when you have to include tips and such.

We finished the day with the "Five o'clock Follies" happy hour at the rooftop bar (5:00-6:30pm buy one, get one free) and got a bit tipsy before venturing out to the Wrap & Roll for a delicious dinner. Sue and Daniel were so impressed with the food, they want to go back for lunch tomorrow. Steve was more impressed with the $2 price tag for a can of beer!

Tomorrow we have most of the day to look around Saigon a bit more and follow up on things we missed before flying to Da Lat.