Advertisement
Published: February 13th 2006
Edit Blog Post
On Feb 9, we got up and had a free breakfast at the guesthouse. It comes with pineapple juice, Vietnam coffee, baguette, butter and jam. We left our big backpack in our guesthouse and reserved a room for our return.
At 7:45, a representative of the the tour operator (TM Brothers Tour) came to the guesthouse to pick us up.
On the bus, we met a cute Korean girl, who is 23 years old and in her fourth year of university. She is such a lively character and we really enjoyed her company. We also met a Chinese lady from Guilin who spoke excellent English. We later found out she is a teacher and had spent a year in the US.
There are three tours -- 1-day, 2-day and 3-day Mekong Delta tours. Regardless of the tour, the itinerary for the first day is the same. So, everyone on one of the three tours were led onto the same bus. We drove about one and one half hour and reached a city called My Tho. We boarded a medium size boat and then changed to two smaller boats. The boats went through the tributaries lined with water coconut
trees. Part of the trees is submerged under water. It is a beautiful ride.
We reached a place and were shown how to make coconut candies.
Then we continue our boat ride and reached another place where they keep bees. The guide lifted a sleeve of the bee's nest. The Korean girl bravely took the sleeve and had her picture taken. Phyllis was also brave and took the sleeve. After Phyllis's picture was taken, a Vietnamese lady took the sleeve. As she was not very gentle, the bees were a bit aroused and one of them stung Phyllis's finger. The guide immediately took Phyllis to the bee keeper and put honey on her finger. Miraculously, the sting and numb was gone in about 20 minutes. So, the honey must have neutralized the sting.
After we finished visiting the bee keeper, we moved onto another place for lunch. Our lunch has steamed rice, a small portion of vegetable and two tiny spring rolls the size of my thumb. I don't know whether this is a normal Vietnamese lunch, but this lunch was included with the tour price. The guide was showing a snake. This time Phyllis decided not to do anything silly. However, the Korean girl was brave and had her picture taken with it.
After lunch, we visited an orchard where we had some fruit and listened to "Southern Vietnamese folk music", performed by local people. Later, we boarded some row boats and toured the narrow "Tan Thach" canal, again lined with water coconut trees.
After that, we drove to a meeting place (Bonsai garden), where the people on the one day tour were picked up to return to Saigon.
The people on the 2-day and 3-day tour boarded another bus and we arrived in Can Tho. We checked into guesthouse. We met Camilla, an American girl, who now teaches English in Soochow, China. Camilla, along with the Guilin lady and the two of us had dinner in a Chinese restaurant and had Vietnamese style hotpot for dinner.
On our way back to the hotel, a street man was demonstrating "sunction flask" on his body. He invited Gary to try one, but instead put 8 flasks on his back. Later, he asked for $1.
On Feb 10, we took the boat trip to discover the water way of the Hau River. We visited the two largest floating markets (Cat Rang & Phong Dien). The markets are interesting. They were not for tourists. We see small and large boats loaded with vegetables and fruits. Half the goods are exchanged, and the other half paid for by money.
After lunch, the people on the 2-day tour were transported back to Saigon and only 6 of us were left. We drove about 2 hours to Chau Doc. Later we walked up (quite demanding for a 50-year old for this 300 meter climb) the Sam Mountain to view the Vietnam-Cambodia border and also to see some temples on the mountain.
On Feb 11, we had a very short visit to a floating fishing farm. Then another short visit to a "Cham" village, a minority in Vietnam. We later visited a small incense factory and then we were driven back to Saigon.
In the last three days, we saw how the Vietnamese operate their tours. They join us, split us up, and join us again, and mix us up with other tours, or sold us to other tours. In this tour of 3 days, we met about 6 or 7 groups from different tours and different tour companies. However, it did not greatly impact our enjoyment of the tours.
After we return to Saigon, the lady at the guesthouse, who supposedly reserved a room for us, sold us to the sister guesthouse. This is the mode of operation in Vietnam, everything is commissioned. Passengers of tours are sold. Guests in guesthouses are sold.
We decided to leave Saigon the next day for Mui Ne beach. We shopped for the bus tickets.
In Vietnam, there is a very popular method of transportation, which is called "open bus tour". We each bought a ticket with 6 destinations, from Saigon to Mui Ne beach, from Mui Ne to Dalat, from Dalat to Nha Trang, from Nha Trang to Hoi An, from Hoi An to Hue, from Hue to Hanoi. For this 1800 kilometer trip, our ticket costs us $22, including one free night of 3-star hotel (for the two of us). Each leg of the ticket has no fixed date. We will just need to confirm the ticket one day ahead with the tour company.
On Feb 12, we went to the tour company and waited for our bus. The bus was two hours late. The lady (whose colleague sold us the ticket) was jumping up and down and called the bus company about 15 times. At least somebody cared.
We reached Mui Ne beach, about 200 kilometers north of Saigon at around 2 pm. We found a bungalow (share bath) for $7, right where the tour bus stopped and unloaded its passengers.
Mui Ne is a popular vacation destination for Vietnamese and foreigners. At this time of the year, the wind is very strong in the afternoon.
On Feb 13 (today), we moved to another guest house recommended by Young Jee the cute Korean girl. The room is better with private shower. The guest house is family operated, the third son is only 14 year old (his birthday today) and help out with the business. He is the one who deals with the guest. He is very mature and we are impressed by him.
We rented a motorbike and visited the "Fishing village". "White Sand Dunes" and "Red Canyon". The general scenery in Mui Ne is beautiful. Because of the strong wind, there is hardly anyone on the beaches. The ride to see the sights are along the coast line and very beautiful. The road condition is superb and there is no traffic.
We will stay for another day before we go to Da Lat.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0503s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Derek
non-member comment
Glad Aunt Phyllis isn't allergic to bees!