Ben Tre

The final place we stayed on our Mekong Delta excursion was Ben Tre, which is an island province as well as a village. We got there by minibus and ferry, and were amazed that the Guesthouse owner was true to his word and was there to meet us as we got off the ferry.

One of the nice aspects of the guesthouse is they offer free bicycle hire, which we made use of straight away. It was great to cycle along all the windy lanes, across bridges, passing locals on bikes coming the other way.

 

At the end of our ride we managed to get caught up in the school run, as all the kids piled out of class to their waiting parents.

We found a lady selling a delicious snack: barbequed bananas coated in sticky rice. One was never enough!

 

Our guesthouse was set in a garden, and we got a real feel for family life here - although we had to politely decline the offer of going to see the cockfight round the corner!

All in all, this was a really friendly place and we enjoyed spending time here.

Namaste!

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Vinh Long, Mekong River Town

With still 5 days to go till we meet Marsha and Nick in Saigon for Christmas, we are taking our time going through the Mekong Delta. Our guidebook recommended Vinh Long - or rather, it suggested going on a 'Homestay' on the nearby river islands. However, this turned out to be much more expensive than we expected - even getting a boat over to the island and back was quoted at $25 each! So we found a decent enough hotel instead and stayed to explore the town.

Here are some of the things we saw:

A man giving his dog a haircut, while the chicken looks on.

The 'aromatic' fish market.

The colourful veg market.

Cops straight out of 'CHiPS' doling out speeding tickets.

And finally, the worst meal of the trip so far. Pete's fish hotpot was utterly without flavour, but at least it beats Hazel's plate of chicken bones.

We left one restaurant in the evening after getting freaked out by the staff and other customers - all of whom seemed to think they were in a staring competition!

And so, moving on...

Namaste!

del.icio.us Tags: vietnam,mekong,lonely planet,vinh long

Sunrise at the Floating Markets - Mekong River

At 5am we were led from our Guest house in Cantho down to our boat at the riverbank. The reason for the early start is so that we get to see the Sun rise over the floating markets.

To our great relief, the first thing our guide took us to was the coffee boat - a much-needed wake-me-up for that hour of the day! It was impressive watching the young lad on the coffee boat nimbly steering his way through the flotilla of market boats using only one foot.

We got straight into the action, drawing alongside boats filled up with fruit, fish, baskets, rice, livestock and so on - not forgetting all the families and customers going about their lives on the water.

 

 

Looks like Penelope Pitstop's wearing her pyjamas on the ferry again!

Duck thinks: "I knew I shouldn't have had that last cake, just minutes before the Weight Watchers weigh-in!"

Here's some of the families we saw:

Here's us along with the Canadian couple (Michelle and Clement) we took the trip with. Pineapple on a stick, anyone??

And of course, we had to try on the hat our guide (Su) was wearing:

As you can see, Hazel fits the part perfectly, whereas Pete...

After the markets, Su took us further down river, away from the town a bit. We were a bit puzzled when she pulled over to the bank and started hacking at the palm leaves on the shore, then set off again:

Little did we know, she was weaving some amazing stuff for us, while steering the boat with her knee.

As the trip progressed, we got further into the narrower waterways:

And stopped off at one of the rice paddies. Haze is demonstrating her technique:

Here's one of Pete's "arty" shots:

On the way back into town, we passed by a large boat of unprocessed rice (that's still in its husk). As you can see, at this stage it just looks like grain:

All in all, it was a lovely morning. :-)

Namaste!

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