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Published: September 29th 2013
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Sunday 29th September 2013
Early pick up, and a full bus on Highway 1 (or as Phong, our guide says, Lowway with elephant holes) 20min down the road and phone call to say someone was left behind so a little stop on side of highway while they caught up and bought the missing passenger. Off again. Couple of hours down to the Mekong delta.
I have never seen so much water. The Upper Mekong river was crossed first. It is huge. Stopped in the provence of Ben Tre and visited a small family "farm". Had some fresh fruit and tea and was entertained by some Southern Vietnamese Folk music - very different, the musical instruments and the tune the singer sings doesn't seem to match, but entertaining none the less.
Then a walk down to the canal and we hopped 4 a time on a hand-rowed sampan for a little cruise along the canal. The canals are lined with water coconuts trees and cacao plants, it is so lusch and green the photos really don't do it justice. We were in the last boat and by this time the storm clouds had
rolled in so the last part of our trip was in a tropical storm!
We were dropped off at a Coconut candy family business. It is made from coconut and sugar cane malt syrup and cooked for hours, rolled for another hour, cut into strips, small pieces and then hand wrapped in rice paper and wrapping. Yum, very moorish, bought a few pkts, and I'm sure some will make it home!
While we were having a glass of honey tea a few of the ladies started to scatter and I look up to see this huge snake draped over the shoulders of our guide, at that point I scattered pretty darn quick too. Mark decided he needed a pat and wrap, so I ventured a little closer to take a photo, but thank God for zoom lenses!
Next onto a bigger boat that took all of us, but we had to be very balanced on each side otherwise it tilted fairly quickly and dramatically to one side. None of the seats were fixed to the floor except for the dining chair Phong sat on that was tied to the side with
some string! None-the-less we made it to Tortoise islet for lunch in an orchard garden of pommello trees. When we arrived 4 of us were ushered to 2 special tables away from all the others as our package included a special banquet lunch.
The food!!! Wow, so much I think half the bus could have shared, we felt like royalty sitting over to the side and being served and waited on. Not bad for a 1/2 price package deal from Scoopon! After lunch we waddled back to the boat for the tip back to the bus. Just as we arrived at the bus the rain started coming down in earnest.
A 20 minute, very wet stop at the Vinh Trang Pagoda saw the biggest smiling Buddha I have ever seen, it made me laugh just looking at him. The pagoda was beautiful and filled with many different styles of Buddha's, and again the gardens were magnificent. 15 min later the 10 of us that were doing the 2 day tour transferred to a van while the rest headed back to Ho Chi Minh. We had another 2 hour trip to Can Tho on the
Lower Mekong River and it poured rain the whole way.
Again thanks to our Scoopon deal, we were in a MUCH better hotel than the 8 others so we had to catch a $1 taxi ride to our hotel. Out to buy a 90,000VD ($4.50) umbrella to be prepared for tomorrow and the floating markets.
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margaret
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Wow Robyn, I am so enjoying your travels - what great photos too. Hope the new umbrella does the trick. From experience (at that price) they usually only last the one downpour of rain!!! Coz, they know the tourist has moved on and it doesn't matter to them! LOL Keep on enjoying