Blogs from Can Tho, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, Asia

K - Whilst in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) we visited the War Remnants Museum covering the American War. It consists mainly of photographs including many by journalists killed during the war. There is also a very moving section highlighting the ongoing effects of Agent Orange and other chemicals used during the conflict - a second generation of children still being born with severe disabilities. It is thought provoking and highly recommended if you are ever in Saigon. Although HCMC is a nice enough City we decided to spend our last couple of nights in Vietnam in the Mekong Delta. The Delta is a popular tourist trip from HCMC but in order to make life harder we elected to travel on our own. After all nothing beats spending a day a little confused and nervous as ... read more

We still had a very exciting time in Vietnam ahead of us – tour around the Mekong Delta. However first, we had to do a stop-over in HCMC to decide where and how we visit the delta. Unfortunately because of the unplanned stop in Phong Nha National Park and longer than anticipated stay in Hoi Anwe only had 5 days left on our visa. We gave it a lot of thinking and research and decided to opt for an organised 3 day tour combined with Mekong border crossing to Cambodia. Not the ideal solution but we did not have enough time to do it ourselves. Looking at the bright side of it we found an agency with great itinerary and the cost of the trip came to a bargain 25$/day per two of us. There is ... read more

3 Pages of photos! Sorry, but hope you enjoy them!! We had a fantastic weekend on the Mekong Delta. Delta Tours looked after us very well indeed. We had stayed overnight at the Duc Vuong hotel which was really good. We had to be up at a ridiculous hour though as we were picked up for our tour at 0715! Our first stop was the quay in Saigon where we were quick to grab the outside seats at the back of our boat. Two and a half hours later we had travelled along the River Saigon meeting up eventually with the Mekong. Along the way we had seen wonderful views of the developing city and some extraordinary scenes on the water. There were banana boats, coconut boats, pottery boats, trawlers, sand dredgers and even a wedding! ... read more

We used the same tour company that we did Cu Chi with to do a day tour to the Mekong Delta. We stopped along the way to handicapped handicrafts warehouse and was pleased to contribute to the welfare of these workers, who had suffered from Agent Orange and other war related causes. We watched as they made beautiful handicrafts and purchased a three piece artwork with duck eggshell. (Note to Australians, customs will seize duck egg shell products for treatment at a cost of about $160! There is a slight yellow tinge on them now - we also bought a vase with no shell and it's just as beautiful and memorable with no dramas involved. Stay away from the shell, despite what the sales staff tell you). Our day along the Mekong was lovely but not ... read more

Alarm goes off at 08:00 and I hit snooze. Didn't sleep very well and I don't think it was the bass speaker on the other side of the wall. Maybe I have illness. Showered and dressed I have 10 minutes to check my e-mails. Suspect I should go get a roll for the bus. Dave and I check out and say our goodbyes. Hope the rest of his trip goes well. Wonder how I'll cope alone? My half of the room for 6 days and my bus ticket costs 924,000 dong. Would have been $2 cheaper if I'd paid in dollar but the black market exchange rate isn't as good as the banks. I grab a Vietnamese roll from across the road and hop on the back of a moto for a ride to a bus ... read more