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Published: March 25th 2009
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Phu My- Mekong Delta- Ho Chi Minh City-Vietnam
17th march
Today we were very exited as we looked forward to our trip down into the Mekong Delta. To get there we had to take a 31/2 hr drive. Lots of us had chosen this trip, but to our delight they surprised us by dividing us into small groups of 6 and giving us a mini bus each complete with our own guide. It was great not being squashed up and Murdo was enjoying the large windows to himself to snap through!! The latest camera club assignments were to experiment with fast/slow shutter speeds to obtain different effects. I do hope you can see an improvement in the artistic composition of our posted photos (which I have to say are really only a fraction of the thousands Murdo has taken)-he’s putting his heart and soul into his assignments but unfortunately developing a bit of a love hate relationship with his new camera as it won’t always do as requested. I think he is doing marvellously however I wish Nikon would develop a silencer for the camera as I think I am developing tinnitus- click….click……click…..click….click….he-he!!!
Three and a half hours passed by
quickly as we were enlightened to the delights of Vietnam. The usual mixture of opulence and poverty, scenes of family life and urban and rural industry. What will stay with us for a very long time is the memory of the hundreds of thousands of motor scooters used by all carrying such things as whole families, mattresses, wood, building materials, groceries and chickens, which we were not sure if they were dead or alive. They had fixed startles expressions on their faces as they bobbed up and down in their baskets!!!!!! No one walked, it was too dangerous- even though they had to pass attest their driving and road etiquette resembled a ride on the bumping cars on the fair after a long evening of drinking by the drivers. I think these should be made a ‘Wonder of the World’ as its an amazing and rare sight and I marvel that most of them don’t get killed!! These scooters were mainly seen in Hoi Chi Min city (formerly Saigon) which we had driven through just to take a passing glance as we head through to Mekong. It was a very hot day.
We arrived feeling somewhat sore as our seats
were over the back wheels and our backsides felt as if they had been kicked by a mule, nevertheless we got off the mini bus and climbed into a boat. Soooo thrilled as we sailed down the Mekong we passed a floating fishing village and felt lucky to be able to soak up its ambience, amazing site. Even though our trip only lasted 20mins we were treated to the delight of drinking coconut milk out of its shell which were then broke in two for us to eat the coconut inside. I thought great I love coconut and eagerly awaited the return of my shells. It was so interesting when they came back with only about a quarter an inch think layer what looked liked coconut cream. We had to scoop this gelatinous feast out with thin slivers of coconut shell. Great, tasted nice even though gloopy. Murdo had only 1 scoop, he’d done it before in Africa, he wanted to get back to his snapping!!
The boat pulled into an island where we transferred into a little 4 man flat canoe like vessels, which was paddled by 2 Vietnamese ladies. It was so hot we were given traditional straw
hats to wear. I particularly liked Murdo in his with his pink bow, if ever I need to black mail him this is the picture!!! The ride through the mangrove swamps was an unique experience. The high humidity mingle with the aromas of water, mud and vegetation, and almost silently we glided through its intricate system, a sensory feast. It was only a short journey of 10-15 mins or so. We could have stayed on all day. However we were to do the next touristy bit of being escorted around an old farm house and plantation. We got to discover how a Vietnamese’s family lived in their house. We tasted the fruits of their labours i.e. Honey and blossom tea, royal jelly, crystallised ginger, peanut brittle, moonshine and a fruit called a rose apple, this was as delicious and interesting as its name. for some reason - what looked like the granny of the family stood with the fastest and longest python around her neck and offered passers by the opportunity to do the same. Murdo quite relaxed when through this ritual, I thought that looks good so tried and took a flaky!! Felt a bit like being on ‘I’m
a celebrity get me out of here’ The photos tell all. What was to follow was more to my taste, a demonstration of how the people made coconut candy. A simple produce, delicious chewing. We bought enough for our nearest and dearest to try.
The next big highlight of the tour was to be served a traditional Vietnamese meal. We had several courses which all had to be sample but not all were revered. The most amazing thing to us was their rice bombs. Sticky rice gunge rolled out fried and turned into a big ball the size of a melon. It was sliced into bite sized pieces and although stuck around your teeth like glue was exceedingly tasty and filling.
After the meal it was time to go home. We were taken back to our minibus by a short journey across the river again. The same delights tantalised us on our journey home. This time though we were very tired, it was hot and dark, which just made the return home a different experience.
I have to add - the bus we had for this trip was an 8 seater with only six of us travelling in it -
The bus itself was a new one. The driver was a madman - driving at speeds that made everyone hold on tight to their seatbelts and the backs of the seats in front. Weaving in and out of traffic at speed, driving up the wrong side of the road and using the cycle lane and what passed as pavement as overtaking/undertaking lanes - squeezing between walls and lampposts - we were lucky, only hit one motorcyclist!!! - Eventually we, semi-relaxed although ever vigilant for the next heroic feat by our driver to get us to the Mekong delta before it evaporated!!.
On the way there and the return journey, we were offered toilet stops “Happy stop” but were also told they were very dirty and could we hold on till we reached our destination?. If anyone had gotten out on the way there, I don’t think they would have gotten back into the bus. We did however get there and back in one piece - if rattled and sore.
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