Snakes, rats, frogs and iced urinals

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If you're due to get up at 4.30am anyway and you're in a baking hot room with no fan or air con what you REALLY don't want is someone's alarm going off at 3.30. When that person doesn't appear to know how to turn it off and it keeps going off, patience can wear a little thin. Especially if there are some puppies whining all night as well. Oh and I've just remembered, early in the night something had been pulling the mosquito net tight from under the bed....I don't know what and don't really want to guess....

So we were up earlier than we should have been but we were soon on a trip on a boat down river to a floating market. The trip began in darkness but some fantastic photo opportunities soon became possible as there were a vast variety of boats travelling up and down the river. There were also people full of character going about their every day business at the side of the water and some in it.

While we are talking about the people it seems time to mention the lack of hassle here. Compared to some countries this is heaven but then Vietnam doesn't seem to have many people who are suffering. Everyone seems to be getting by, just getting on with their lives. The experience for us is real, it's not been turned into something like the hideous carbuncle of tourism wiping out any original infrastructure like the abomination that is Kos. They work, they survive, they get on with their lives and that makes it so much better for us. Keep the Kos effect away from Vietnam!


We leave Vietnam tomorrow and while I'm sure Cambodia will be wonderful, it will be a shame to leave Vietnam so soon. Even the day that Qatar Airways robbed us of wouldn't have been enough so already we are planning to come back!


The first floating market was okay, nothing spectacular with mainly fruit being traded and not many boats. We were supposed to be visiting a noodle factory but that was closed today so we were taken to a larger floating market instead and that was more like it!
We bought some drinks from a drinks boat which hooked onto us during the transaction and were offered bananas as well as freshly cooked noodle dishes. Lots of chaos, lots of smells and lots of colour made it a fascinating experience.


A quick trip back to the home stay for breakfast included me getting to hold a snake which was destined for the barbecue. It was still alive when I held it and I didn't want to hang around while it met its fate. Already on the barbecue were snails, frogs and rats; tempting eh? We had fried eggs with baguettes.


Oh and that bloody alarm was still going off; whose was it??


After another hair-raising moped ride we were soon heading up to Chau Doc in our air conditioned vehicle. Claire's moped ride was a bit more scary than mine as she was behind Helen who was behind the driver....and they don't drive slow!


On the way to Chau Doc we saw our first road accident with a moped and its recent occupants sprawled across the road. Very unpleasant but somehow the first one we've seen given the amount of traffic and interweaving that goes on.


First stop here was for lunch in a restaurant where they put blocks of ice in the urinals...no, me neither.... We presumed that meant it was safe to eat there but we all avoided having anything that was swimming in the tanks. I may not be a vegetarian but I don't want to see my food swimming around before I eat it. The food was great though and cheap. Vietnamese food has been lovely and not too spicy. I know some cities have Vietnamese restaurants back home but we live in Stoke where we don't yet have a Nandos let alone anything approaching cultural. We did one have a Mexican restaurant but now you can't even get a Chinese meal in the city centre. Pathetic.


After lunch we went in search of getting passport photos for our Cambodian visas tomorrow. The first place we went to we were told the business had closed but I suspect it had been as recent as when we started walking up the path!


The second place used a Nikon camera to take our picture so we were well impressed. I still looked like someone who'd been in pitch black solitary confinement when I got the pictures back though. So, pretty good for me really.


And then to the hotel where, miracle of miracles, our luggage was waiting for us. Qatar airways had finally got something right and delivered it to the right place-two days late of course. It was a bit scary as our bags were in sealed sacks and they really didn't look like our bags as the shape was all wrong. But they were! Still locked and we finally had all our stuff! We couldn't have made it without the help of Andy and Helen who have been so kind in lending stuff to us so many thanks to them.


I've missed out a boat trip. We are doing and seeing so much on this trip that when we come to write our blogs there's so much to fit in that you forget what order you did things in. So, back in a boat we first headed to a fish farm where we got to feed fish while they flapped under us and sent out cascades of water all over us. The fish farms are on floating house with the fish 'stored' underneath for between 6 and 12 months when they are ready to be sold. Other fishermen and women fished the river using a variety of nets making for great photo opportunities.

Next stop was a Cham village. I won't go into the history of the Cham people but it is worth reading up on as it includes the custom of when a King dies, all his wives are buried alive with him..... Now you're interested eh!

The Cham houses are built on stilts as the area floods very badly and there was a very rickety walkway/bridge to get to it which we were advised to go one at a time over each section. A reasonably interesting visit but not amazing as there wasn't much to see....and these ramshackle houses were alongside ornate brick ones all of which had satellite dishes.

We've done the hotel and luggage bit so just to mention that one of the other victims of the flight QR46 abomination has only just had their luggage too. We shall be joining up to sort out deserved compensation for us all which we will use to fund further adventures!

Oh and I've finally shaved. Being very anti facial hair of any sort I coulda shoulda bought shaving gear but something made me do a bit of a dirty protest. I'm soooooo glad it's gone! It was itchy despite it's paltry length after four days and I didn't feel clean with it so never again!

After I slept for a few hours we went out for an evening walk. The pavements are often cluttered with stalls, mopeds, restaurant tables etc etc so to add to the traffic chaos we walked in the road a lot of the time. If you do it the same as crossing a road here 'with confidence' you'll be fine we had been told,and tonight, we were.

We walked down to the waterfront where there was a hive of activity and, luckily, we'd gone on Kung fu night. Huge mats were laid out and kids were having their Kung fu lessons right there in the open on the promenade. You wouldn't see that in Stoke! We don't have a promenade for a start....

Other people were down there to wile away the evening by just hanging out while others were exercising, some were breakdancing and one guy was jumping onto lampposts. I'm not sure there's much call for that sort of thing but running at a lamppost, leaping and then holding on with hands and feet might be the next big thing. The guy certainly looked quite agile so I reckon he's waiting for his fifteen minutes of fame when it catches on and everybody's doing it. I'd get practicing if I were you.

I was going to join in with the breakdancing as tonight was another of those nights when I wished I could actually breakdance. Sadly I can only do the opposite which involves me making a tit of myself and ending up in a great deal of pain. Maybe next time?

Lots of people said hello and I'm thinking of starting teaching some language classes over here. It's lovely that so many people smile and say hello to us but imagine if I could get them to say hello knucklehead or hello peckerhead to future tourists? How funny would that be!

We stopped off at a cafe/bar type place where I managed to get coffee all over the table. The strange contraption was apparently a filter....so when I placed it on the table a big splodge of coffee emerged across the glass top. Useless tourist!

While there a frog hopped by. You don't see that every day.

Tomorrow morning we have to get up early to go to Cambodia so an early night it is. Just to reiterate, visit Vietnam, message ends.

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