Mekong Trip

On the following day, I left for the Mekong Delta Tour for three days. The tour was great and allowed me to see parts o Vietnam that an independent tourist couldn't see on their own. There's a little something for everyone in this tour. Despite the fact that my camera didn't have a battery, a few people took some photos for me which was really nice.We took the bus trip from Saigon early in the morning heading to the ferry where we started the tour by going to the unicorn island to visit a coconut candy making factory. It was impressive to see how they made the candy from the coconut...available in several different flavors..:) Yummo!

We had a seafood lunch where we learned how to make spring rolls..which if you have the right ingredients is pretty easy...after lunch they gave us some bikes with baskets to ride around the island for a little while.

I met two lovely guys from Australia and we chatted about what we'd done in Vietnam, and all the recent flooding in Melbourne and Brisbane. They put us on a boat long slender boat which normally the villagers weave around the little inlets of the islands. They only held about 5 people including the boat operator who paddled us through with no problem. We stopped at a local place where we sampled some tropical fruits like bananas, pineapples, papayas, jackfruit...and one other really slimmey looking fruit which looked really disgusting at first but actually tasted quite good. After several years of not liking papaya..I tried again for the "first" time and it was amazingly juicy and melted in your mouth...:) I might become addicted to it when I get home.

Sadly at the end of the day I was told I'd be joining another group because no one else was continuing on....so I said my goodbyes...collected my things and reluctantly left my new found friends. My tour guide pointed at me and said ""you....you do home stay tonight" to which I replied replied..""ümm ok."" As part of the tour, I was going to do a homestay with a local family in a local village for a night, which I was a little reluctant to do at first, but when I found out there would be a few ladies from Germany doing the homestay, I felt a little more relieved.

We were collected by our host(can't remember his name now) and we took a taxi to a nearby town where he led us to a long boat and loaded all of us in the boat each with individual seats...however he was still stood on the shore. Once he'd loaded us in the boat...he waved and said "bye-bye""...:) All of us laughed... and he jumped in the boat. Then what he did next was amazing, he walked on the edge of the boat which was about 1 inch wide to the other end of the boat.

Our Boat

We drove thru the darkness to his house looking at the stars and the full moon bouncing off the Mekong. During the boat ride several thoughts are flying through your head...of course the first one is how much this reminds you of a horror movie and what "could" happen....but then you tell yourself..."Have a little faith,"   this nice guy is only trying to make a living for himself and his family.

We arrive at the dock and walk up the plank bridge to his house to meet his family and his 3 little kids come out to meet us. The 2 little girls are given our passports and start to write down our details to register us with the local authorities. There are loads of plants and flowers around and I am excited to see what this place looks like in the morning. There are a few hammocks hung up outside for us to rest. All of us was of own rooms with mosquito nets and 2 bathrooms available to use. I thought to myself...at least it's not an outhouse like we had in Canada as a kid.

Our Rooms

His wife brought`` out our dinner which was a carp fish dinner where we made our own spring rolls...His son who was about 2 years old had alot of fun getting cold drinks from the fridge and touching it to his face...and had fun putting the cold drinks on our arms. Everytime he did this, we squealed and he giggled. He was so cute. It was easy to see that he inherited the playful nature from his dad.

After dinner our host pulled out the rice wine and started doing shots with us...he thought it was really funny to fill up our glasses all the way to the top and tell us things to try and scare us. He quickly learned who was afraid of snakes, spiders...so each time we would "cheers"which was ""Mung Hi Bi Yo""...(I totally butchered the spelling), he would....'"to... no spiders... to no snakes.."' After all, we were in the middle of the countryside and could easily find spiders, snakes, rats or geichos in our rooms. 

After having a coffee down at the local cafe, I went to bed. In the morning we got up early after a nice sleep to go visit the watermelon fields and rice fields. As we're jumping across, I loose my footing a bit and almost fall into the rice patty... I hear my grandmas voice in my head saying "'Don't go in the rice patty'' :) After going back, we had a nice breakfast  and can finally view the landscape it is lovely.

As we wait to leave, we play around in the hammocks and Regina tries out the monkey bridge which is how the locals get around over the water. The monkey bridge is a small bamboo pole and a railing. Knowing my own gracefulness...I don't attempt it as I'd be right in the water...:)  Later in that days, we tried a one that was a bit more sturdy. Our host takes us back on the boat to our group, and we reluctantly say goodbye.

The more sturdy monkey bridge

Our host and the boat..;)