I grabbed a bite to eat at a corner cafe before heading over to the travel agency, where I waited for a bus to pick me up. Instead of having everyone meet at the agency (which could be very hard to find if you weren't staying in the immediate vicinity), the bus made several stops at different hotels to pick people up. Because there were so many different options for the tour (bus ride, boat ride, 1 day, two days, three days, hotel, home stay, etc.), just about everyone on our bus had a different itinerary. Once we'd picked everyone up, it was a short drive to the Saigon river, where we boarded a boat that would take us into the Mekong Delta. It was a small boat, but definitely fast, as it only took us about 3 hours to get to the delta, and we overtook every boat heading south.
One of the first things I saw, just after I'd found a seat on the bus, was a guy rowing his boat with his feet.
I sat inside the boat for about an hour. I was sitting on the east side (which I couldn't tell at the time we boarded because it was overcast). Basically this meant that everything on my side of the boat was in shadow, while the other side of the river was lit up rather nicely with the morning sun (once the clouds had cleared a bit). There was a woman with a toddler who moved inside the boat, so I was able to go outside on the back for the remaining two or three hours of the ride. There were a few guys on the back, but for the most part they were silent. It wasn't until we passed a Buddhist temple (with the ubiquitous sideways swastika) that anyone said anything. One of the guys thought it was a Nazi building, at which point I piped in (nicely of course) that it was actually a Buddhist temple, and explained how you could tell the difference and that they were common in Asia and Indo-China. That conversation was an ice-breaker, and though we didn't talk much afterwards everyone did seem to relax.
We passed all kinds of scenery along the river, including the houses on stilts (en masse) that you see in pictures.
Something I noticed about Vietnam in comparison to Cambodia was the massive amount of garbage everywhere. It seemed like Cambodian people were so poor that they couldn't afford things that would create garbage, whereas (at least along the river) there were piles of garbage where people just dumped all their leftover refuse with no thought as to how close it was to their dwelling.
We stopped at the biggest island in the area - Unicorn Island. We were taken to a honey bee 'farm', where we stopped for a brief talk about bees, which was slightly inaccurate. I only knew this because my class had been studying bees in one of our classes for the past two weeks. I got to stick my finger into the honeycomb to try the freshest honey possible. Which, to be honest, tasted just like the stuff you buy at Publix. It was still nice, though. It was definitely one of those "Here, try our local products. Isn't it nice? Would you like to buy some?"
After the honey bee farm we walked to a coconut candy 'factory', where it was kind of the same thing. They showed us how they made the candy, let us taste some, and then we were left to our own devices for 20 minutes, during which time you could browse the stuff they had for sale. The touristy things were pretty interesting to look at.
Then we took a boat ride through some back canals, with about 3-4 people per boat.
I loved this part of the trip, as it was the quintessential Vietnam. I wish it had lasted a bit longer, as we were only in the boats for about 15 minutes.
We took the boats to Hai Ai and stopped at a local outdoor restaurant. There was a water buffalo tied up in the canal just before you entered the restaurant.
Lunch was pretty good, but not included in the price of the tour. I shared a fried elephant fish with one of the guys I had met on the boat. Thanks to my practice eating fish in Korea I was able to show them how to eat it (cut it down the top and split it in two, then use the tail and head to pull out the spinal column and most of the bones).
Afterward we had an hour of free time, where we could borrow bikes to ride around the local area. I was really excited about this, and grabbed the first bike I could and headed out. At first I thought that the rocky pathway and very thin tires were the reason I couldn't seem to ride well. I soon realized after about 5 minutes of fast peddling that the front wheel was bent (and wouldn't stay when I tried to bend it back), and the brakes didn't work. So I begrudgingly headed back to the restaurant with the bike in tow.
After eating, our group was split up. The people staying in a hotel were taken by bus to where they were staying, and the rest of us boarded a different boat that would take us to another island for our home stay.
The home stay was nice, but very touristy. I had pictures sitting with a family of six in a one room house on the river, using sign language to communicate and helping them cook and clean. It was more like a family-run outdoor-style hotel. My room barely fit my bed and didn't have a lock, and there was mosquito netting over the bed which came in useful. Before we ate, I spent about an hour wandering around the grounds before it got dark, and enjoying the peacefulness of being outdoors on the water.
The people running the place were very nice, and the dinner was enjoyable as well. I ate with a family from Germany who had come over to meet their father. He had been teaching German for several months at a local university and his daughter, wife, sister-in law and (I'm guessing) mother-in-law came to visit. They all spoke excellent English, though when talking to each other they spoke in German.
After dinner I found a hammock to lay in and write about my day. There were two other people there, and one of them started trying to talk to me, asking about my visa. Going through the English and Vietnamese writing on my visa became a two-hour English lesson, with various other people coming in and out of the area and the conversation. Tai Thung Phoc could read a little English, but could barely speak it, so some translating was done by a young boy who lived in the home stay. It turned out that Tai was a motorbike driver who was on a ten day trip driving some tourists around the delta.
I woke up at 6am the next morning to catch the sunrise over the delta, which was well worth it.
After the sun was up, I grabbed a shower (not realizing there were towels in my room I used my hand towel from traveling), and then laid in a hammock again until a breakfast of eggs and bread was served. We got a new tour guide, who seemed a bit better than the one I'd had the previous day, but it was possibly because she was a girl and I wasn't offset by her.
We took a boat to the floating marking, which was interesting, but not what I expected. The boats put a bamboo pole up with what they sell hanging from the pole so people can see it from a distance. It's a wholesale market, so the boats are bigger than the small canoes that I'd thought they'd be.
After the market, we went to see rice paper, rice candy, and coconut candy (again) being made. These were similar to the places we'd been to see the day before, with an explanation of how each item was made, a sample to try it, and then time to wander and purchase whatever you wanted.
Items for sale included anything from traditional rice paddy hats, paintings,
or snake wine. They put a dead snake (and sometimes other reptiles) into a wine mixture and allow it to ferment. It tastes more like a really hard vodka, and I don't even want to know whose idea it was to start with.
After the candy factories, we got back on the boat and just drove around through the delta. I sat in the back of the boat so that I could get pictures from either side.
We then stopped at a side canal, where we were taken in another paddle boat to where we would have lunch. The tide had gone down considerably since the night before, and the banks of the canals were really muddy. At one point, the girl rowing our boat actually got out to push the boat, because the water was shallow enough that it was easier than rowing. She was rather shocked when the guy in our boat took off his shoes and jumped in to help her.
We had lunch at another outdoor restaurant similar to the day before. This place also had bikes you could borrow, and this time I made sure to get one that was in perfect working order. You could ride wherever you wanted, and I took a bunch of back streets over the canals that we had passed by earlier in the day. There were tons of small houses, shops, and even a temple that was being built. I loved the freedom of riding through the little village at the speed and direction I wanted.
After my ride we were put on a bus back to Saigon. We stopped at a rest stop, where I met up with the Australian boys. I didn't get sick while in Cambodia or Vietnam. I'm guessing it's the same as whenever I go to another country - it takes about a week for my body to get used to the food. I don't know what happened, but two of the tree gues got violently ill the night we stayed in the delta. Nathan still looked worse for wear when I met up with them. Usually I ask for other people's facebook info, but this time I gave them my email. If they emailed me, I'd let them know how my trip to Halong Bay went, as they were planning to be there a few days after me. They never did get in touch, though.
When I got back to Saigon, I was moved into the main building of the hostel. I cleaned up, and laid down at 8 to take a nap after dinner. I must not have heard my alarm, because I woke up again at 2am, so I just went back to sleep. That way I knew I would wake up on time for my flight. I was out the front door of the hostel by 5:30, but the taxi didn't show till 5:40. I still made it to the airport by 6 because there was very little traffic (it took an hour to get from the airport to the hostel when I'd arrived), and there was no line to check in for the flight. Security was fast as well, but it took me about half an hour to find coffee once I'd gotten past security. We boarded on time, and I got a window seat on the west side of the plane, so I wouldn't have to worry about the sun in my eyes. I know for the future that if they offer me an exit row seat not to take the window one, because there's never actually a window there - only the exit door (though you do have more leg room).
Next up - Hanoi and Halong Bay.
