Mekong Delta

---

Instead of just getting a bus from Sai Gon to Phnom Penh (we'd had enough of buses by now), we went by boat via a trip to the Mekong delta. The bus took us to the delta, where we got our first glimpse at the mighty Mekong river (actually just one of the many branches) - it was massive and very muddy. We were taking a day trip around the delta before going by bus the final several hundred kilometers to Chau Doc where the boat would take us the next day to Phnom Penh.

Not particularly much of interest to write about - we visited a coconut sweet making shop, tried banana wine (good for your sex drive apparently), and saw a beekeeping station where they put massive snakes round our necks. I also saw the most massive spider I've ever seen in a giant web between two trees. Some of the waterways were really narrow, and Ross got completely soaked by a monster wave when our boat passed another. We got given the conical hats to wear, and tried our luck playing the traditional instruments. We were awful.

The bus to Chau Doc was brilliant. We were shoveled into the back of a full, hot minibus, with somewhat testing legroom. However the driver knew how to drive and took to the roads as if they were a speedway, and all the other traffic were his competitors. The air coming in the open window blasted my face back, and at every bump my bag would fall off the shelf behind me onto my head. The driver would beep at every other vehicle, coming in both directions. I figured either everyone in Viet Nam knows each other, or he was just teasing everyone - proving the point that he could overtake blind and not die. Sometimes he beeped when there was no one even to beep. In some kind of masochistic way I actually enjoyed the journey. It was like some crazy theme park ride we were going so fast, and the overtaking really was quite scary on such narrow winding roads. Not only that, but as the sun was setting a massive thunderstorm was approaching - the first we had seen all trip (they would become nearly a daily event). Flashes of lightning and gigantic anvil shaped clouds loomed all around us in the distance. I loved it.

Chau Doc was nothing to write home about. Either we missed all the bars and nightlife, or it simply didn't exist. Within minutes of finding our room, a small ultimate nightmare occurred when Nick tried to re-adjust the position of the wall mounted fan. Somehow the thing came loose from the wall, the cage fell and the blades smashed off - flying across the room and down the corridor. How the staff didn't hear it we don't know, but we were lucky. We hid all the bits in the cupboard and didn't tell them - it was a piece of crap anyway just waiting to fall off. We had visions of them finding out the next day and chasing us down the river demanding payment, but we got away scot free.

The river journey to Phnom Penh was very relaxing. On the way we stopped at a fish farm where we fed the fish, and visited a tribal village where we saw a woman on a loom, and children sold us cakes. Everywhere along the river children would rush to the banks and wave at us furiously, some diving in for better effect. After some hours we arrived at the border (marked by a rusting barge), and said goodbye to Viet Nam.

It appears I forgot to take more than two photos, so check out Ross' page here: More Vietnam

---