Blogs from Rach Gia, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, Asia
Mekon our way to "the Island"
Published: November 16th 2010Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » Rach Gia
November 10th 2010
Monday- apparently you should "BOOK A TOUR" to and through the Mekon (from Saigon). Colette and i took this as merely tourist centres wanting us to indeed "book a tour". So we hunted down the local buses, squeezed ourselves into a small minivan filled with Vietnamese and about 5 hours later arrived in Cho Thou (? i am SO rubbish with remembering names). When we got there we got harassed by 'motorbike/ taxi/ etc" and we booked into a random hotel with a HUGE room, and a very proud owner who kept saying that he is "in the Lonely Planet". It was a tough day on the coach (well- i was in and out of sleep for most of it and trying to read my book my torch light). The day ended with some nice ... read more
October 16th 2010
Caught another bumpy local bus from Ha Tien to Rach Gia, the departure point for the Superdong Ferry to Phu Quoc Island. Rach Gia is a fairly large city and a quick stroll around was enough for me. Too many motorbikes and too much noise after Ha Tien! I had wanted to catch the ferry from Ha Tien to Phu Quoc but it wasnt running because of the bad weather, but today the sky is blue and the sun is shining at last! ... read more
Riding the Super Dong..Rach Gia to Phu Quoc..Post 12
Published: April 28th 2009Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » Rach Gia
April 24th 2009
After a great nights sleep at the Lang Du (apart from Rhianydd being woken at one point by a small lizard gazing adoringly up at her from her pillow),we loaded the bike for the hundred yards ride to the Super Dong.... where... we promptly unloaded it again, as the dockers said it was too heavy to go up the plank to the deck of the hydrofoil..this might sound like a trifle but in 90 odd degrees in full bike gear a 10 minute load operation tends to become a bit of a headache...Still never mind we've got a couple of weeks on Phu Quoc to recover!! The dockers stiffed us a little for loading the bike onto the ferry but given how much bigger it is than all the little Hondas they usually deal with we ... read more
March 16th 2009
I last left you in the madness that is Saigon. My last day there, I spent not knowing if it was my last day there or if I would stay for a few more. Laurenne and I decided to walk around the city and see some of the sights and eat some of the food (ofcourse!). We had some breakfast at our hotel and then wandered down to the river. Instead of finding the river, we encountered a ton of construction that once was part of the river. We then realized we were very near to an icecream shop that lonely planet claimed had the best icecream in Saigon. Even though we weren't hungry, we had to check it out. And its name is "Fanny" and how can you pass up an icecream shop with that ... read more
July 13th 2008
We (sadly) left Da Nang on boarded the "Reunification Railway" to the deep south. Only being a few hundred miles away, the bullet train only took 16 hours. We slept the night away and woke up at 5:00am to the blaring sound of "Saigon Dep Lam, Saigon Uh, Saigon Uh... La lalala la" - translation: "Saigon Beautiful, Saigon Uh, Saigon Uh... La lalala la". We soon got off and hoped onto a five hour minibus ride taking us almost to Rach Gia, but our destination was the small town of Tan Hiep. Along the way we had to cross the Mekong River, but unfortunately there was no bridge. So all the passangers had to get out and swim across. Just kidding, there was a ferry that took passagers, motorcycles, cars, and buses and trucks. It was ... read more
June 23rd 2008
I just wantedto post a short note mentioning Rach Gia as there is not much on here about it. We found it to be a freindly town with 4star accomodation (The best we have stayed in yet) for $20 a night. Nobody, and I mean nobody speaks a word of english so I had to polish up on the vietnamese quickly. We had a great night and watched the sunset over the bay ate excellent food and were treated like royalty. Recommend the Linda Hotel - excellent value..!!!!'... read more
February 7th 2007
Greetings Fellow Bioinformaticians, I am writing to you from the Peoples Committee for the Accurate reportage of Travel and Ice Skating here in the depths of Communist Party HQ in Saigon. Today's blog will be about our ill-fated attempt to reach the supposed Island paradise of Phu Quoc. What follows is a tale in the tradition of National Lampoons Vacation and Speed (mostly National Lampoons). Saigon: January 4th 2007. A meeting at a cafe in a darkened Hemway takes place between two Swiss and two Australians Ueli: You must come, you simply must, we can't complete our mission we two only (slams fist on table takes a bite from an imported block of Swiss cheese) Dominator: Ueli's right, we need your expertise and your sexy times skills. We just can't carry on without you. Please you ... read more
