Andrew Pell: The mighty Mekong Delta

After 4 nights at the top banana guesthouse in phnom penh it was time to head for Vietnam. I really wanted to see the Mekong Delta so I joined a 4 day tour to do just that. First it was a car trip, then a mini bus ride, followed by an extremely noisy boat journey that took us over the Cambodian border and into Vietnam. The border control was basically a quick stop on the side of the river with a heat sensing machine to see if we had the flu. We were then quickly ushered into the 'border control restaurant' as for some reason our passports were going to take 30mins to process! A dodgey and expensive morning tea followed! There were 7 of us on the tour and after 3 or so deafening hours on the boat we had reached our first stop which was a lively little town called Chau Doc. The afternoon was spent exploring the place and playing Gow (hacky sack) with the local kids. The next morning we were back on the boat exploring the many waterways of the Mekong Delta. We stopped off at a fish farm which is basically a floating house with a cage below. The guide said there was around 15000 fish in each small cage and when feeding time came it was clear that they were well and truly crammed in! Another short boat trip to a village where we saw how trafitional sarongs were produced. Following this it was back on the boat and off to a busy town called Can Tho. We visited the night market and played some more Gow with the locals which was great fun.An early start the next morning ensured we were on time to see the chaos of the floating market. This is a daily event where local produce is sold and swapped for other goods. Our boat had a little bit of trouble weaving inbetween all the boats and in the process we hit a small boat causing his jackfruit to go toppling overboard. Some Vietnamese expletives followed and our skipper quickly handed over some Dong to keep the peace! From the chaos of the floating market we then continued on the boat to visit a rice vermiceli making factory. One more quick stop at a fruit and veg farm where I possibly tasted the most amazing mango ever! We were then transported by bus, then a passanger ferry and again by bus to our next Mekong Delta town called My Tho. Local noodle soup and beer was our dinner followed by an early night.

The last day of the tour was a busy one and included a stop at a cocunut candy factory. I purchased some super yummy cocunut and peanut sweets as well as trying some of the local coconut wine. There was also the opportunity to hold a smallish phython around your shoulders which was a little out of the blue but anyways.. We we served a pretty simple but satisfying noodle lunch on Tortoise island which is one of the 4 islands within the Delta. After lunch it was back on the boat to a small village where the locals performed some traditional Vietnamese music whilst we enjoyed some fresh fruit. Next we were put in small row boats and taken for a short trip through a very pretty bamboo canal. A low bridge along the way required everyone to duck down, somehow our experienced driver/paddler lost his balance and ended up in the Mekong! He was the laughing stock amongst the other paddlers and he did appear to be quite embarrassed! After a great 4 days in the Mekong Delta it was back on the bus for a 3 hour journey to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon.