Last days on the Delta

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After a relaxing rest day on our floating house, playing a few card games and reading, we took a rather expensive boat to My Tho. The province authorities run a monopoly: boats taking tourist can only run through their offical licencing system passing through their offices. Any local boatmen working outside the rules is fined. So for our 20 minute trip it cost $15 compared to the 10-20 cents when we were able to take local ferries...grrrrrrr! An interesting communist approach. Also, if you plan to stay the the floating house we would definitely recommend you take lots of food with you. The price for their meals is 3-4 times the local prices and is really not very good. The classic tourist service in SE Asia.

After an overnight stop at Go Cong we set off for Saigon. Cycling through the Delta had been a peaceful experience where we were able to learn about daily life. Very little of the land has not been utilised by humans, and as a result there was very little wildlife. The delta was immense and although the fish population has been dessimated the land generates a lot of rice and fruit for the local population.

Our ride up to the city was another hot day's cycle. It was a good feeling to be entering a large city knowing we had already booked the accommodation - a first for us. It remained just two lanes of traffic all the way up to Saigon. It was not a particularly pretty day of cycling but thankfully it never got too busy. The cemeteries grew larger encroaching across more of the paddyfields. We stopped for lunch when we saw a cafe opening with a good buffet spread. We enjoyed a number of tasty local dishes; slices of fish, crunchy green beans, chicken, rice, salad and soup, whilst folded up on the small plastic red chairs.

Sadly, we saw three mopeds pull up with cages of dogs on the back. They looked so hot and squashed, the likelihood was they were on their way to a dog meat restaurant 😞

The last stretch into the city over a couple of large bridges were pretty hectic, mainly because mopeds pulled out in an adhoc fashion. From a minor road they don't look back as they sail out into the main street. On the outskirts of the Saigon we had a great view of the tin houses on stilts in the river. The river was full of rubbish. I thought to take a picture but decided the risk of traffic and my camera being snatched was too high.

We arrived at Sunny Hotel, a small place close to the tourist streets but mainly used by locals. We thankfully had a lift up to our 3^rd floor, always a great bonus. We planned our stay, with a day to see the sites of Saigon and a day for the Cui Chi Tunnels, then headed out to indulge in an Indian curry. We feel we ought to embrace the opportunity of international food whilst here, although my lips suffered with the spices 😞 They're suffering from being sensitive to the sun due to my anti-malarials.

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Comments

[Sue/ Mum]

latest entry
Enjoyed your latest entry. Lovely photo of Kat eating healthy food. A bit sad about the dogs. Good luck with the rest of your travels. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx