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Monday 1st June 2009 Day 1-Mekong Delta
This morning was another 07.45am pick up for the 3 day Mekong Delta tour into Cambodia that we had booked. After a 1 hour coach journey to the ferry port we boarded a boat to a honey farm were we tried honey tea which was very nice, rice wine which was as disgusting as I remembered and banana wine which was equally disgusting. They also let us try there home made candy which was nice especially the peanut brittle Suz brought a bag of that. From the honey farm we walked through the village to restaurant were we had fresh fruit and traditional Vietnamese music was played to us it wasn't quite are taste in music but each to there own I suppose.
After the musical performance we got onto smaller rowing boats which took us to turtoise island for lunch. After lunch we got back on the rowing boats along the Thoi Son Canal which was very pretty to a coconut candy mill, where we were shown the process of making the candy and then we got to try some chocolate coconut candy (Nice but not quite a Bounty). After here we got back onto the boat which took us back to the port, where we got back on the coach to go to Can Tho City 3 hours away, we were late getting to the city due to having to wait for over a hour to board a ferry to take us to the city (10 min ferry ride) as this is the only way to get to the city.
The hotel was about 15 minutes away from the port of Can Tho. On arrival at the hotel we discovered we were booked into mossie ville!! The hotel was basic with very unfriendly staff! But it was included so what more could we do!! By now it was about 8pm so we dumped our bags before heading out for dinner. Prior to this Caroline decided on a pre dinner snack of a la mostiquo!! The walk into town was horrendus, not because of the people or the place but because of the mostiquos. Neither of us had ever seen so many mostiquos. They were everywhere! I'm sure it had something to do with being by the Delta and the heavy rain fall earlier on in the day. We had dinner at a local bar of noodles mixed with a few beers before heading back to bed at about 10pm!
Tuesday 2nd June 2009 Day 2 Mekong Delta
Today started at 6am! Breakfast was at 6:30am and then we left at 7am! Not impressed with the early start I don't even get up that early for work!! After leaving the hotel it was just a 5 minute walk to the port where we hopped onto a boat and headed up stream to the floating market. The floating market is mainly locally grown produce sold by the locals. Some of the people sell too bigger company's who then transport the produce back to the bigger cities such as HCMC for consumer retail. Some of them just sell to each other and local restaurants. The floating market is a daily thing and it means a 3am start everyday for the sellers! And I thought we had an early start. Most of the people on rthe river liver in the river houses. Which are basically wooden houses on stilts. Very interesting to look at but I can't imagine very stable!!
After the floating market we went to a rice noodle (vermicelli) factory. Without the guide we would never have known it was there. There not factories like we know them no there basically set up in the back garden. We got to see all the process of turning the rice into noodles. Very interesting. The rice is also grown on their land and then to keep costs down its just family that are employed and they all come together to make the rice noodles. The Vietnamese seem very self sufficient and everything in the process is used for something. There is no waste. Any waste there is is given to the pigs for dinner and then even their waste is used on the land to grow the crops. If done well these buisness's can be quite profitable. This one was making about $400 a day selling the family made noodles. Which for Vietnam is quite good!
From the Noodle factory we went to the area for which is known for its monkey bridges. On arrival the heavens opened so we took shelter and had a coffee at one of the riverside cafes. This one also had hamocks which some of the group took good advantage of! After the rain we took a walk up one of the arms of the river to where there was a monkey bridge. This was basically a bamboo made bridge of sorts. Its made by the locals of bamboo sticks tied together. Its used daily for the kids to get to school. We crossed it but oh my god it was so unsteady. It was that thin you couldn't have both feet together and evn though there were places to hold on it just didn't feel at all safe! If it had been at home we wouldn't have gone near it with a barge pole!! We all made it over safely and then I decided I wanted a photo so I went back-big mistake! If someone is going to fall its going to be me! And yep that's exactally what I did. I slipped on the mud and landed straight onto my back. MUD EVERYWHERE!!! After getting cleaned up (in a fashion) we all got back on the boat and went back to Can Tho City for lunch.
After lunch the group joined another group and then split up into Cambodia group and HCMC group. All of us going to Cambodia jumped on our bus and off we went. A bit cramped as a smaller bus! The journey to Chau Doc was 120km and was to take 3 hours. Mainly due to the roads and the inability to be able to go any faster than 50km/hour. Half way down we stopped at a crocodile farm. None of us knew what to expect but I think we were all hoping for it to be reserve. The sign on arrival read "Please don't tease the crocodiles just LOVE them!" This was comical because it turned out the crocodiles were all kept and bred for their meat and skin. We even witnessed several of them being caught, mouths gagged and heaved into bags for transport! Now don't get me wrong having tried croc I found it very tasty but to have it shoved in your face is a little different.
Once in Chau Doc we all visited the Cave Pagoda and Lady Chau Xu temple. good to look at and at 400m above the street some great views as well. After this we went to the hotel, checked in and then headed out for a drink. Easier said than done, Chau Doc was a strange little place with hardly any restaurants/cafes. We had a walk including frequenting ourselfs with the market before settling on a drink by the road side at a family run stall. Good people watching spot though. The rest of the evening was spent drinking, walking, having dinner and watching a kids karaote lesson in the park. We did get a little lost on the way back but having made it back safely it was another early night.
Wednesday 3rd June 2009 Day 3-Mekong Delta
Another 6am start with breakfast at 6:30 and we left the hotel at 7am. The bags (about 8 in total) all went by tuk tuk and we (the group) walked to the port. Once there we boarded the boat and our 1st stop for the day was a fishing farm. Basically several familes have their homes and buisnesses on the river. The fishing fam we visited had 30 years experience and about 100,000 fish. There was a hole in the wooden floor were alot of the fish were visable. the guide threw in some fish food and the splash of water was amazing! With all of them swimming and sploshing around the water came out at such a force at all of us!! From the fishing village we then went to a Cham minority village. The community are all muslim and they live off the land and by selling home-made crafts such as weaving and bracelets to the tourists. All their houses are on stilts due to the location by the Delta. During the rainy season flooding is a big problem in this area.
After the Cham village it was back on the boat for a 3 hour journey along the Mekong Delta to the boarder crossing. The boarder crossing is actually on the Mekong river. This river carries on through Cambodia, Loas and Thailand. The boarder crossing was the strangest boarder crossing we've ever seen. It was a tin shack on the river with a bridge leading to a small island. The group waited in the shack which had a restaurant so we all got some food whilst the guide took our passports and $22 to get our visas. After about an hour and a half of waiting and with visas in our passports we hopped back onto the boat. We were on the boat for about 5 minutes in no-mans land before we then had to disinbark again at the Cambodian side. This was to show our passports and get them stamped, with no less than 5 stamps!! After this it was another 3 hours on the boat to the port near Phoem Penh. The time was spent chatting, reading, playing cards and drinking some beer!! During this 3 hours there was also a heavy thunder storm so some of the ride was a tad choppy. The port in Cambodia turned out to be a mud slope and because of the rain a very slippy one at that!! Nearly everyone fell on the way up trying to get themselves and bags up the slope!! From here it was then a cramped 45 minute bus ride to Phoem Penh.
This route was by no means the quickest way into Cambodia but it was by far the most fun!!!
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