We left Ho Chi Minh City at 4 am, because we wanted to be out of the city before the rush hour, which starts at 6 am. We headed towards the Mekong Delta. Our first night was in Ben Tre, the second night we spend in Tra Ving. In Tra Ving we visited a colorful Hang Pagoda.

Mekong Delta

Mekong River: The River of Nine Dragons

The Mekong River is one of the world's great rivers and its delta is one of the worlds largest. The Mekong starts high in the Tibetan plateau, flowing 4500 km through China, between Myanmar and Laos, through Laos, along Laos-Thailand border, and through Cambodia and Vietnam on its way to the South China Sea. At Phnom Penh in Cambodia, the Mekong River splits into two main branches: the Hau Giang (Lower River) which flows via Chau Doc, Long Xuyen and Can Tho to the sea; and the Tien Giang(Upper River), which splits into several branches at Vinh Long and empties into the sea at five points. The numerous branches of the river explain the Vietnamese name of the Mekong: Song Cuu Long (River of Nine Dragons).

There are also many challenges for the people living near the river; the seasonal flooding and the pollution of the river. Many people lose everything they have and many people die because the flooding. Lacking any high ground to escape flooding, many delta residents build their houses on bamboo stilts to avoid the rising waters.

A further challenge is keeping the canals clean. The normal practice of dumping all garbage and sewage directly into the waterways behind the houses is taking its toll.

The Mekong Delta produces one of the biggest rice harvests on earth. There is enough rice to feed the whole Vietnam.

We stopped in Vin Long, where we met a lady who proposed us to stay with her family in a homestay. Her house was in an island, 10 minutes by ferry. The place wasn't exactly what we thought a homestay would be. The house was divided by thin walls in different rooms, where the guests would stay. Also the lady told us that there would be just 2 other people, but the house was full, about 7 other tourists. The evening we had dinner, which was surprisingly good; grilled fish, vegetable soup, ginger chicken and fresh spring rolls. The next day we woke up early, at 6 am and went on a boat ride on the Mekong. It lasted 6 hours. We visited many places, a coconut candy factory, also a place where they make salt, a rice cracker factory where we could taste all kinds of things made from rice. We also tasted different fruits that grow in the region.

In Vietnam there is a variety of different fruits: Rambutan, papaya, star fruit, pineapple, jackfruit, guava, durian, dragon fruit, lychee, mango, star apple…

We came back to the house around 12 pm and left to Can Tho. We spend the Christmas in Can Tho, which was a really nice town. We went to see a Christmas mass in a Catholic Church. It was all in Vietnamese, but it was very lively and everybody was signing. The evening we went to have a dinner in an Italian restaurant.

From Can Tho we went to Rach Gia, which is situated on the west-cost. We wanted to go for the New Year in Phu Quock Island, because Marika and Erno were there. There were some ferries from Rach Gia to the island but very expensive. So we decided to go more north, to Ha Tien and take the ferry from there.

It was hard to find the cheaper boat to Phu Quock because everywhere they advertised only the more expensive fast boat. Finally we could find the cheaper one and booked the tickets for the next morning.

The ferry was big but still it moved a lot because of the wind and the waves. As usual, only the locals were sea sick.

Phu Quock Island

We arrived on the other side of the island. It took us almost 2 hours to get to the other side where all the hotels were because the roads were so bad. At the beginning we were afraid that we are going to have a flat tire because the road was a dirt road with stones and holes everywhere. Only in the end the road was very good and we could drive little bit faster.

I was still very sick, I had the flu from Christmas and it just got worse. Also, we know that it would be hard to find a cheap room, because all the hotels raise their prices for Christmas and New Years. Finally we found one bungalow for 20 dollars, and it was the same where Marika and Erno were.

The New Year we had a dinner in a French restaurant, Le Bistrot. It was so good: we ate goat cheese and other good food. At midnight we went to the beach. Unfortunately there weren't any fireworks. We stayed about 5 nights in the island. It was very nice place, but little bit too expensive…

Marika and Erno left one day before us, because they had to hurry up to go to the North of Vietnam and see everything they want, before their visas expire.

We left the island and went back to Ha Tien for one night. From Ha Tien we went to Chao Doc, where we visited the Sam Mountain, a holy mountain for Buddhists. Up there was a beautiful view over the valley and the town.

In Long Xuyen we visited a Crocodile farm, which is a home to thousands of crocodiles with different sizes, from 10 cm to 4 m. They smelled very bad, and they were fed with small baby chickens. There were many of them floating dead in the water.

We continued our trip to Vinh Long for the night and the next day we went back to Saigon. I Saigon we saw the guy who sold the bike for us, we washed and checked the bike with a mechanic.

Riding by motorbike through the Mekong Delta was awesome. The weather was perfect and people very nice. The landscapes and rice fields were very authentic and beautiful.