Blogs from Can Tho, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 5

Today we said goodbye to Saigon and what a fabulous city it is. We particularly enjoyed the party atmosphere around the Tet celebrations, the wide open boulevards thanks to the Froggies, they do get some things right and of course the wonderful food. Our accommodation was superb and you have to hand it to the Vietnamese they are a really friendly bunch. Apparently the population in 1924 was 28million this has now grown to over90million so the population is young , keen to learn and prosper. 28 to 90 million guess they are a friendly lot!An early start with a new driver and local guide, Duc, who explained about the journey to our destination for the. day Can Tho. Our first visit was to a temple, one with a difference, it involved about five religions under ... read more

The next morning we decided to drive the roundabout way to Can Tho, through Sa Dec by way of the ferry. It was just about the longest and slowest way to Can Tho, and it was lovely. We sanked around the islands, past fruit garden after fruit garden, the roads sleepy and barely wide enough for one car at a time. Endless bridges, markets and smiling faces along the way. The ferry was not the scary ferry we had seen so many times before, but rather a larger one, with cars, thus slowing down the traffic, even though we were glad we had watched them the day before and knew not to be at the front of the line, as people drove on and off well before the ramp even got close to the pier... It ... read more

Vores dage paa Phu Quoc gik egentlig ikke med ret meget, dels var vejret ikke saa godt, vi havde de mest ekstreme regnvejer om natten - det larmede saa meget at man vaagnede. Vejene var usansyndligt ikke, det kunne birkerne ikke lide! Og jeg var ramt af noget maveinfektion og havde en dag paa langs. Det blev dog til lidt strand, massage og fest paa altanen med nogle andre rejsende, vi boede i nogle bungalows ved stranden og kunne praktisk talt gaa ud i vandet fra hvor vi boede. Det var ogsaa her vi moedte den foerste dansker paa turen, yay!! Efter Phu Quoc tog vi nordpaa til Mekong deltaet som er et kaempe omraade med en masse floder, det er nok det fattigste vi endnu har set af Vietnam, her var ret klamt og floderne ... read more

First some advise about these tours...basically they are all the same!!! We walked around HCM visiting a number of travel agencies to pick out a tour that suited us. There were some marginal differences in price but we eventually settled on a 3 day trip which ended with a slow boat across the Vietnamese border and up the Mekong to Phnom Penn in Cambodia. We also decided to do a home stay in the Mekong. When we talked to other people on the trip it appears that a number of tours had been amalgamated resulting in frequent changes of guides and plans as, for example, the one day tourists went in one minibus back to HCM while the rest of us packed into an overcrowded minibus to travel a few hours to our nights accommodation. None ... read more

K - Whilst in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) we visited the War Remnants Museum covering the American War. It consists mainly of photographs including many by journalists killed during the war. There is also a very moving section highlighting the ongoing effects of Agent Orange and other chemicals used during the conflict - a second generation of children still being born with severe disabilities. It is thought provoking and highly recommended if you are ever in Saigon. Although HCMC is a nice enough City we decided to spend our last couple of nights in Vietnam in the Mekong Delta. The Delta is a popular tourist trip from HCMC but in order to make life harder we elected to travel on our own. After all nothing beats spending a day a little confused and nervous as ... read more