The Mighty Mekong River, Vietnam

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The Mighty Mekong River

Well after the boredom in Saigon, it was a relief when we finally got into a tail boat and cruised down the Delta. Along both sides, the Delta is full of busy workers. The delta is so fertile, gardens, fields, rice plantations and orchards are seen everywhere. As we float past one, our local guide proudly boasts this delta combined with the hardworking Vietnamese farmers produce more than enough rice for the country, which allows Vietnam to become one of the largest exporters of rice in the world.

We passed the four major islands of the Ben Tre district: Dragon (virility), Phoenix (femininity), Tortoise (longevity) and Unicorn (luck).

First stop was a coconut candy product making "factory". Whilst basically a cottage industry and obviously very tourist oriented it didn't affect the candy tasting pretty good!

Next up we visited an apiary where we sampled some of the home brew, most notably was the snake wine. This was a big bottle of wine with a full dead python in. Apparently the addition of the snake was essential as it provided men with great sexual power!

Further up the river we stopped again and came across a friendly Python, and after being on the end of some much needed peer pressure I decided to it put on my shoulders. Strange feeling at first but wouldn't flinch at doing it again.

The thing that I did back out of though was trying some honey from a pallet from a bee house with thousand of bees flying round and crawling on it. I seem to get stung from all kinds of bugs in Asia so no point risking any more. Tony on the other hand went for it, probably because he's always hungry!

After lunch we decided to leave the rest of the tourists and go for a bike ride along the river and through a small village. The people here were so friendly, everyone waving and shouting hello to us. It seems the people here are poor and have little in terms of material possessions but are always cheerful, happy and full of smiles.

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Photos

Friendly Python
Look at this one! Isn't he a beauty. He could kill me right now.

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Tony, I told you these lamp shades would come in handy.

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I think you're going to need a bigger boat

The Local Mekong Market
Somehow I was coaxed into posing for this photo...Not sure how that happened.