We got up super early and headed down for breakfast at 6:45am: free baguette with butter and jam, bananas and tea with condensed milk, something I can honestly say im starting to really like! The tour guide arrived on time-ish to collect us and take us to the bus for the three hour drive down to the Mekong Delta. Our guide's name was Qua (as in 'je ne sais...') and he babbled on in a hilarious fashion about Ho Chi Minh City, the delights of rural life, how being female and single at 24 is just about the worst thing that can happen to you, and the merits of stopping to use what he affectionately calls 'the happy room' (loo). He kept talking until he saw heads bobbing and decided we should all have a nap, which we gladly did. Two toilet stops and three hours later, Erin had purchased a conical Mekong hat for a dollar and we arrived at the ferry port. As the bus drove onto the ferry, we looked out to see a guy on a moped driving off the ferry with 3 fully grown, very sunburned dead pigs strapped to the back of it. Such things no longer shock us in Vietnam, but simply make us consider the menu very carefully.

Off the ferry, we boarded a sort of open barge which took us out onto the mighty Mekong, much wider than we expected, it truly is a massive expanse of water. We sat at the back in the open sunshine and enjoyed the journey.

We arrived quickly at the floating market, where we were told boats would come and dock for five days or until their cargo was sold, and items could not be purchased in quantities less than 5kgs. Sweet potatoes, rice, fruit and veg are all traded in huge quantities, and most of the traders spend their whole lives on the boats, their dogs and children accompanying them.

After about an hour floating around and past the market we started to navigate off the main river and pretty soon we came to a bank where we got off to look round a coconut candy making workshop. The people here make all kinds of sweet treats from coconut and condensed milk, as well as rice paper for spring rolls etc. A huge sack of rice costs them 6000 dong (about 30p) and use it to make rice paper in large amounts to sell, then the ashes from the rice husks, they sell to local farmers for fertiliser for about 5000 dong, meaning it's very easy to make a profit on.

Munching on free samples of still warm and gooey coconut candy, we moved round to see how they made it, all the different stages and finally the finished products which we could buy if we wanted. A huge table groaning with coconut candy in various flavours (chocolate, banana leaf, peanut etc), sweet potato crisps, sweet rice crackers, candied fruit and lotus flower sweeties was just too tempting to resist so we indulged a little before moving to a little tabled area for some free tea (delicious) and the opportunity to try some 'snake wine'. Having vowed to say yes to everything on our travels (within reason), we agreed. Shot glasses were dunked in a vat of dead snakes and gleefully presented to us by a beaming Qua, who downed his own first and looked at us expectantly. Not wanting to let the norn iron side down, we copied him. Then tried not to boke. Snake wine is like a mildly sweeter poteen and best consumed in small doses, when already bladdered.

Ah well. When in Rome..../Vietnam.

Next we moved through a small village area, walking right through these people's back yards and really getting to see how they live. One was making poprice (like popcorn but with...you get the idea) by heating sand in a huge wok until it went black, then pouring in rice which would start to pop. Then he would sieve out the sand and move the rice on to be coated in caramel made from sugar and coconut and made into what looked like rice crispie squares. They sell these and also make them for their childrens packed lunches for school. We then headed back to the boat, wandering through little orchards and over river bridges. The boat took us to see the houses just behind the banks of the delta, and here we had a locally prepared lunch of BBQ pork, vegetables and rice with soup and fruit-absolutely delicious!!! An Israeli guy sitting with us ordered freshwater shrimp, which he let us try and which he and steph agreed were the best they'd ever tasted, and he was a chef! After lunch, there were bikes available to explore the area or hammocks in which to sleep off lunch. Can you guess which we chose? Well, it was very hot, and sticky, and exercise just isn't our thing....

After lunch, we headed back to the boat but were pleasantly surprised to be directed into a canoe instead (4 people to each). Everone was given a conical hat to protect them from the by now scorching sun, and we spent the next half an hour silently floating down a canal of the Mekong, passing local people who live this way every day. It was extremely peaceful and beautiful and possibly the highlight of the entire trip since leaving belfast.

Returing to our original barge, we opted for the shady side and kicked back with our feet in the water to enjoy the trip back to the bus.

Back on board, Qua prepared us for the chaotic traffic we were going to experience, explaining why we were on board the bus at half three but not expected to arrive back in Saigon until half seven. Traffic at home is NEVER this much fun. Vietnamese drivers are utterly insane. One guy wearing a bike helmet and carrying his briefcase had decided instead to RUN home through the screaming bikes and lorries, and actually moved a helluva lot quicker than we were. An ambulance, lights on sirens blaring sat in the queue behind us for a good ten minutes while no-one thought to let it past. Twelve year olds on motorbikes cut through the spaces between busses that I wouldnt have fit through! Also, we should probably make a list of the top ten weirdest things we've seen strapped to the back of these motorbikes. Among them would be a flock of geese, five live pigs, a huge pane of glass, half a cow in a bag with the leg hanging out and the three sunburned pigs I mentioned earlier. Thoroughly entertained for most of the journey, we finally arrived back in Saigon having had the best day of the trip, all inclusive for only $14 each. Then back to Madam Cuc's hostel for more free dinner, and to pack our backpacks for the next day as we intended to do a City Tour before catching our sleeper bus, and so would have to check out before we left for the tour in the morning and leave the bags at the hostel all day.

We went to bed and watched HBO, our favourite channel in Asia. The same awful movies over and over, but at least in English.