Our Mekong Delta trip from HCMC didn't disappoint, we had a jam-packed day seeing the river sights from an array of different sized boats! However, the first interesting part of the day was in the mini-bus rest stop where there was a selection of live fighter fish in what appeared to be very foamy bear. I inquired at the pay-point and was informed "You drink fighter fish, it make you strong"! This one isn't a tradition I'm up for trying, how very unfortunate for the fish!

I've also noticed the coffee here not only tastes a lot stronger, it really packs a punch! After one cup on this refreshment break, I went from nodding dog to alert Alsatian in a matter of minutes... Which leads to my next discovery. I casually commented about the lack of stray dogs roaming about, you hardly see any. But this is, of course, because any poor mites straggling about are swiftly caught and served for lunch. Have vowed to avoid anything on the menu listed as a meat dish rather than specifying the actual kind of meat, and hope they aren't lying when it says "pork"!

Back to the actual trip, our guide was a slightly fat man with a side parting who promptly told us to call him Tiger, the nickname he gave himself. Surely you have to earn that kind of cool euphemism?! He rambled on about himself, with a few local history references, repeating each fact a few times but the only thing that stuck in my mind was that Vietnam is the second biggest exporter of rice in the world today, though I will never forget the picturesque rural villages as I gazed out of the window.

When we arrived on My Tho, Upper Mekong, we got on a long tail boat to Unicorn Island where we were taken to a bee farm to taste the local honey which was gorgeous! Then swiftly on to some little rowing boats to Ben Tre, which was really fun. Here we were taught about the lovely local sweets, Keo Dua, or coconut candy. I missed most of the making technique as I was watching some cute puppies playing, until Ben pointed out they could soon be dinner. After transferring between more boats of different shapes and sizes, we visited a tropical fruit farm and experienced some local music. Here, the music focuses on different tones, rather than melody like western music, so we heard lots of high to low wailing sounds, which was enjoyable nonetheless! After snacking on some exotic fayre, Ben got up and had a go on a few intraments.

We headed back to Saigon and had just enough time to grab dinner before our wonderful hostel owner took us to the bus station and put us on a 7 hour bus to Dalat for $10. We arrive here at 2.30 and had called ahead to book a room at Dreams Hotel, where they had beautiful room prepared for us. The $25 rate included breakfast so we forced ourselfs up early the next day and were amazed to find a spread of fresh fruit, eggs how-you-like-'em and fresh bread with jam, peanut butter, marmite or cheese triangles! Dalat was under French rule for a long time so the baguettes here really are worth sampling!

We took an "Easy rider" tour which was such a great experience. Our guide, Hong, is part of the local motorcycle crew who drive vintage bikes around town, taking tourists with them. He was friendly and knowledgable and gave great insight to the history of Dalat, taking us to a Buddhist Padoga, a silk factory, on a mountain climb with awesome views, and taught us loads about the local farms, took us to meet some families and told us about the coffee from the region. The absolute highlight was a steep trek to Elephant Falls, a huge waterfall. Obviously these views don't come for free, and I returned to the bike with a nasty bump and graze to the head after slipping and full on head-butting a tree. We came back absolutely knackard but ended up drinking in a local bar watching football with other travellers for a good few hours, there's nothing better to help you get drunk than a mild concussion! Nothing could top this personal look into life here, past and present, so we spent the next two days just ambling around town, taking in the river on swan pedallos, and enjoying the views on the mountain cable cars, plus the pretty gardens of a Buddhist Monestry before boarding our first sleeping bus up the coast.