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Published: November 28th 2007
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House Boat
Where they live and trade. They have kids, chickens, dogs and cats on these boats! Please Note - today I have uploaded 2 blogs, Nha Trang & Da Lat precede this one.
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Mekong Delta
We had been told by other travelers not to stay in Saigon and as we drove into it we understood why, rubbish all over the streets - they really need to fix their rubbish problem. Although I heard India just started rubbish collection a few years ago - so I probably need to change my attitude pretty soon!
But in Saigon its self its great, naturally we stayed around the backpackers area so we only got a small view of the city, but we loved it. Perched on the corner of a street with a long island iced tea in hand at a French style bar (everyone sitting outside facing the street in a line) people and traffic watching - its great. At this pub they don’t allow the hawkers - even better!
Lots of pubs and restaurants to choose from. We are staying down an alley and on one side of the ally is the hotel/guest house on top of the restaurant and the other side of the alley is the
open kitchen. And the food actually tastes here as well. Its funny the french influence is really strong in Vietnam considering they only ruled for 100 years, the french sticks, french seating at bars and the houses and buildings.
I had to try it - a large jar with snake curled around and around with its face looking out at you - snake wine. Apparently medicinal say the Vietnamese men - of course! After each meal and before bed, it can fix your back problems. So I am confused as to why the men take it and not the women. Well it tasted yuk, Carl said he liked it, but yet only had one sip…..offered it to the Vietnamese barman “No no” he said pointing to the jar with a distasteful look on his face - "what, me drink that - yuk with that thing in it!" You can also get it with a scorpion in it as well. I would love to bring a small bottle back to NZ but would probably get shot at the border.
Accommodation We are staying at Bee Siagon who also have Bi Siagon like 4 doors away from each other down
River off Mekong
House backing onto the River the same alley way. They both have the kitchen across the other side of the alley. The first night we stayed in NZ$33.00 a night (US$25) cos leaving early for Mekong Delta. It was OK, no room to swing a cat though. When we got back they had run out of those rooms so put us in NZ$40 (US$30) and it was huge, new bath and shower, larger TV screen, more channels, in room internet connection, great stuff. Just you cannot put paper down the toilet, first time we have come across this in Vietnam- oh well shit happens!
Bi Saigon and Bee Saigon Hotels Well we have booked a trip to the Mekong Delta, huge rice producing area, through Sinh Café, including a 1 star hotel - nice. So went shopping for Carls double silk sheet - NZ$8.00!
Mekong Delta
Tour Bus
Boat trip down river around floating market
Lunch and singing
Visit village that makes rice paper, popped rice and coconut lollies.
Boat ride
Ferry ride
1 Night Accommodation
Breakfast (bloody bread and jam again!)
Boat ride around bigger floating market and rice factory
Bus ride home.
All for the price of NZ$24.00!
The hotel bathroom
Life on the River
It does not matter what type of house it is - you will always find a TV aerial - even on the house boats. could have done with a good scrub with janola but all in all for that price and the short stay it was fine. No bugs. Normally just the hotel was NZ$16 a night. Although it was right by a main road and the traffic and toots went on all night long.
The tour was great, we were amazed what we got for the price. It is the number 1 budget tour company in Vietnam. So far found them well organized and good buses.
Sinh Café tours Can Tho The town we stayed in was interesting, very little note of tourism i.e. small market selling jewelery, bags and souvenirs and a couple of western décor type restaurants serving your normal tasteless Vietnamese food. The town was on the edge of the river and was lined with a long, wide, paved park type area with palm trees. Across the street were the normal street vendors on the foot path, little shops selling limited amount of stock e.g. drink and cigarettes, or if you are lucky an ice cream. Across the other side of the wide brown river, were tin shacks leaning over the river - it was quite a contrast.
Mekong River What can I say but YUK! This huge wide brown smelly -Carl reckons the river smelt like a meat works - river is ruined by all the rubbish the Vietnamese put into it, not recyclable rubbish but everything. Their tin shacks have the toilet cubicle leaning over the river with the only plumbing being a hole in the floor.
They use the river for washing clothes, washing dishes and washing themselves. They throw their waste in it. They bathe in it, swim in it, and run their business on it. Some even live on it.
We visited a some rice product businesses. The first was where they split the rice from the husk. The machine they used was basically a big wooden tray, the bottom being a sieve, which would shake backwards and forwards and therefore shake the husks off. The only reason I use the word “machine” is that the humans don’t do the shaking, it is automated. A German who was with the tour group said “I went to a Museum in Germany a few months ago and it had the very same machine in it!”.
Another was making rice puffs. They
Pot Warehouse!
No actually he lives there have an open fire with a large wok on it, and put some river sand (yuk!) in the bottom. Heat this up really really hot. Put rice in it and mix it around. The rice starts puffing up like pop corn. They put it in a sieve to split the rice puff from the sand. So check you ricies packets!
Anyway it was a good trip, it was extremely interesting to see the river, and it was amazing value for money. But the rubbish is very disheartening to see lining the rivers edge. You see people living along the river edge throwing it over the edge, and even people living back from the river walk up to the rivers edge with a big bag of rubbish and empty it down the side.
Well we are now off to the beach again, this time on an island called Phu Qouc, to rest before we hit India, or India hits us!
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Manon
non-member comment
Going in November 2013
I truly enjoyed reading your blog, I am worried about the rain but there is nothing we can do about it. I will make sure to have rain gear, your blog is very nice to follow. Truly enjoy it! Thanks