Mekong tour with Jason

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Jason our tour guide picked us up on time and was the same driver as last year in the van. Unfortunately, it is abit on the squishy side and hot in the van with the 12 of us (and our luggage) and Jason and the driver (they have the best spots!) Didnt take long to leave the city and our first stop was Cai Dao temple. Its a multi religion, budhism, hindu, catholic, taoist, confusiousism and I think two others....but don't quote me on that!

Then it was a truckstop for a coffee and the fish toilet (similar to the one in slumdog millionaire). I thought this was going to be a touristy gimick thing, so when I said to Jason, "where is the real toilet" he said "this is it!". No way in the world could I hang on for another 2hr to lunch (I had been busting since we left the hotel in Saigon) so there was all of us girls waiting for each other to get over 'stage fright' of having to do a wee and everyone seeing it come out the bottom of the toilet and into the pond at the bottom!

Hamish then proceeded to get a migrane type headache and threw up for the next hour or so. Issy then went out in sympathy with him and got carsick, she went white as a sheet....brilliant. Thankfully she was not ill, but did take her quite a long time to start feeling better.

Finally arrived at Cai Be and boarded the long boat for a tour of what was left of the morning floating market. Hamish had a sleep for about a hour and was fine when he woke up. Because of the length of time it took us to 'wee' at the truckstop and with a stop each time Hamish was sick, we ran out of time and didnt visit the mainland market at Cai Be. Last year when we did the tour, I really enjoyed the Cai Be market as it was the only place in Vietnam that we saw live skinned hopping frogs! Kids all had a drive of the long boat which I think they quite enjoyed.

Had lunch at a homestay on a island, food was delicious. Kids caught 3 elephant ear fish for lunch and Glenda and Janine cooked them (deep fried) and then we proceeded to demolish the lot by making fresh DIY spring rolls. They were very very tasty. Kyle I think ate a whole fish (he must have been starving!!) They they brought out braised pork cooked in fresh coconut juice....very very tender and really delicious. Finally was a chicken hotpot which was a little on the ordinary side, but that may have been because everyone bloated! Jason bought over some durian for us to try, I had tried it many years ago and didnt like it then.....this time it made me heave...revolting, disgusting stuff....leaves a horrid aftertaste that took ages to disappear.

Boat back to the van and onwards to Can Tho ferry. This year we are staying on a island resort called Phu Sa Resort. It is only 2 years old, but looks a lot older. Apparently was spose to be a 5* hotel/resort, but we think far from it! Has quite nice cottage style rooms and the a/c was cold!

Up early the next morning for the Can Tho floating market. The market is 6km from Can Tho town and took a little over a half hour to get there by long boat. Was lovely sitting on top of the boat nibbling on pineapple watching the goings on of the market. We were not hasseled to buy sunglasses, bracelets, watches, postcards, just some nice ladies who asked if we wanted a cold drink or coffee! We then went to the mainland market and saw dead rat and python. yummo! Phil, Len, Glenda and I eventually lost the rest of the group for a short while, but not terribly concerned as we were the only 'westeners' in the market and stood out like dogs balls!

Back to the resort for breaky (fried eggs again, Phil is impressed...not!) and the kids then went on the waterslide. The slide is on the edge of the mekong, I'm not sure I was game enough to actually go swimming in it.....I was a little concerned of 'floating logs!' but that didnt seem to put off the kids and they had a ball. Eventually though Issy ended up cutting her foot on a barnicale on the slide and I was very paranoid about infection and made her soak her foot in pure detol for half hour!

Last year we caught the express ferry back to Saigon and had planned on doing so again as it was well worth it (and is an hour or two shorter than going by road) but apparently it has gone down the gurgler and is no longer in operation, so we were back into the squishy van for a 4.5 hr journey home. Got to the queue for the ferry to get to the mainland and it went for miles and miles. Jason said never seen it that long! Bloody brilliant! So...we sat in the queue in the bus...eventually the bus starts to over heat and they turn the a/c off. We make a desision to walk to the ferry and go across as foot passengers and wait in a cafe on the other side for the driver and van to turn up. Wise move....he took another hour or so to get through and we were entertained by some kids wanting our empty drink containers. Issy is getting quite proficient at using 'squaties' as long as they are reasonably clean. She much prefers a western toilet though! Boarded the bus for the drive home.....I thought the queue was long on the other side, this side it went for miles and miles and miles.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable few days on the mekong. Tomorrow we leave for Hoi An and the kids are getting some clothes tailor made.

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