Blogs from Chau Doc, An Giang, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 4

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Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc November 16th 2010

Day 28 – Sunday 14th November We are now 4 weeks into our trip and today begin a two day bus and boat trip to Phnomn Penh in Cambodia. As usual we are the last people to join the bus and get the back seats. No one wants the back seats – every time you hit a bump or hole in the road you fly into the air!! And believe me when I say that the East – West Highway is bumpy! Most of it so far appears to be nothing more than dirt track. According to our guide Winh, there are chicken holes, buffalo holes and elephant holes! The entire route is lined by shops selling any manner of weird and wonderful goods. From tractors with no wheels, coffins, face masks and sunglasses, fruit and ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc August 31st 2010

Mekong Delta Another golden sunrise, and morning stroll along the river followed by the very addictive delicious beef curry and baguette breakfast and we were ready to venture on to our next country, Vietnam. Team assembled, and we hopped on the minibus for the jetty,expecting to be taken to a modern busy 'harbour' for our boat, we were somewhat surprised to find ourselves in someone's back-garden! The owner was a friendly older chap who sat and chatted with us as we waited for our boat to arrive. We had to make our way through his garden and scramble as elegantly as we could onto the long wooden boat, with our packs wobbling precariously...we all made it safely on board and made ourselves comfy on the sun deck. There were about 12 of us altogether, a mixture ... read more
Sweet
5am on the delta
Typical mekong river bank

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc August 7th 2010

Loaded with baguettes, cheese and local brioche type fare we were prepared for our first long bus journey in Vietnam - I forgot that the food was in my (LB) rucksack as i preceded to squish down my bag with my feet for it to fit under the seat in front- Fliss kindly reminded me, but alas it was too late our lovely fresh baguettes from the local market were now wheat crepes! We were quite relieved to be leaving the wonderful delights of Chau Doc and felt at complete ease with no other westerners on the bus apart from the man that insisted on sitting next to Fliss on a bin in the aisle of the bus - as soon as he went for a toilet break Fliss wasted no time in moving the bin ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc August 6th 2010

We were sad at leaving Cambodia as it was such a fascinating place but at the same time we were both tremendously excited at the prospect of spending the next month in Vietnam. We decided to cross the border this time by boat via the Mekong River - it seemed somewhat adventurous, well for us anyway. We departed Phnom Penh by bus and after a 3 hour bus journey through remote rural areas (and after a taxi and mini bus ride before the bus) we reached the place where our boat was waiting. We were expecting a port or at the very least a small harbour with wooden jetties. There was neither; at the rear of someone’s wooden shack home, we had to slither down a steep muddy river bank and leap onto a wooden boat- ... read more
brown water of the Mekong - the start of our journey
Lovely Laundrette
Mekong Playground

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc July 22nd 2010

We arrived in Vietnam by boat along the mighty Mekong river. It was very relaxing and refreshing to be away from all the beeping and the crazy roads and buses with karaoke playing at full volume. Arrived in Chau Doc and stayed in a floating hotel. We had a short walk through town and dinner from a street stall. It was unbearably hot that night and so refreshing to be out on the river again the next day to see a fish farm underneath someone's floating house and a Muslim graveyard where they buried the dead vertically instead of horizontally. Had lunch on the boat and then changed to a bus to go all the way to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) it was relatively painless, at least there was no karaoke and the air con ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc June 23rd 2010

Another interesting border crossing. slightly less chaotic than the previous. Again loads of paperwork and also had to be thermal scanned to see if we had a temperture which was interesting. Ate cold fried rice whilst waiting to cross border- yummy! So now we were in Vietnam! The first stop was chau doc to break up the journey to Saigon. I really liked this place. It didnt feel too touristy and we didnt really get hassled too much. We got on boat to go on the river. There are loads of houses on the banks and on the river. We went to see how they farm fish uner their houses. they pen off the water under the stilts which their houses stand on and just gorw fish in it. they just ope a trap door on ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc May 24th 2010

Arrived in Chau Doc around 4.30 pm after an uneventful boat trip from Phnom Penh. We had short listed a place that we thought would be good to stay called the Trung Nguyen. Was listed in LP so was not sure if rooms would stilll be available, and also the group from Intrepid was booked there. We just tagged along behind them as it wasn't too far to walk. Yes they had a room for us but it was on the 4th floor. Scooted up to have a look and it was great. 2 double beds, great AC, Doona's and spotless. All for $22 with breakfast. Sadly no lift but all those croissants that I had eaten in Cambodia have to be dealt with. The lady at front desk was a wizz and gave us a ... read more
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Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc May 11th 2010

From Saigon we headed to a small town in the Mekong Delta called Chau Doc - it's the last town in Vietnam along the Mekong River. Rather than a motorbike taxi or car taxi, (Vietnam doesn't generally have Tuk Tuks for some reason), on arrival we opted for what can only be described as a bicycle-drawn cart - one each from the bus station into town. When we set out on this journey I'd like to point out that we didn't quite realise just how far it was and when we arrived at our first choice guest house the drivers were erm, absolutely knackered from. Xan did buy them a bottle of water each while I looked at the room! Chau Doc is a very small town, with a large local market that runs along the ... read more
Paula in the market
Stacks of fish for sale
The Mekong in Chau Doc

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc February 26th 2010

Unsere Tour ins Mekong-Delta startet auch wieder mit einer zweistündigen Busfahrt die uns direkt nach Mekong-City bringt, von wo wir ins Motorboot umsteigen und die vier Inseln im Mekong besuchen: Phoenix-Island, Turtle-Island, Crocodile-Island, Dragon-Island. Auf den verschiedenen Inseln lernen wir wie wir aus Kokos-Milch Süßigkeiten hergestellt werden und dürfen diese probieren. Wir fahren mit Fahrrädern durch die kleinen Dörfer, wo Sabrina und Ich vom Tourguide zu einer Zuckerrohr-Limonade eingeladen werden, und dann natürlich zu spät zum Lunch kommen weil wir uns verfahren haben. Nach dem Mittagessen besuchen wir noch eine Obstplantage und probieren dort verschiedene Obstsorten, von denen ich die Hälfte noch nie gesehen habe. Dabei bekommen wir auch noch eine vietnamesische Gesangspräsentation, also das volle Touristenprogramm. Dafür sind die Inseln wunderschön. Da sie vo... read more
Inseltour
Die Kanäle im Mekong Delta
Radtour

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc February 4th 2010

After breakfast and checking out we caught a tuk tuk to our boat and completed our visa forms then we were on our way. During the boat trip we saw floating villages and lots of fishing going on. We misssed all the pirates between exiting Cambodia and entering Vietnam then arrived in Chau doc soon after. We caught cyclos(bikes with a small cabin on the back) to a hotel in town which was fun. For tea or cyclo men took us to a nice fish restaurant and we had all sorts of fantastic shellfood and a brilliant Buddhist monks soup. After watching all the goings on by the river we looked around the New Year market and took some photos then cyclo'd back for bed.... read more
Border Boat
Border Boat
Floating Village




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