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Published: December 7th 2007
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Mekong Delta
Floating along the river... Ok so after these four days, I am officially in love with Vietnamese people. Travelling south out from Ho Chi Minh, we decided to spend 4 days floating along the river of the Mekong Delta. The whole place is beautiful and surprinsingly diverse. I was unsure as to quite what to expect from a place full of little canals and people who live on floating houses but the experience was simply awesome. I think it was helped by the fact that we decided to spend part of our time in a homestay. It is how is sounds...you get to stay with a family and become part of their lives albeit for a day or so! The eldest member of the family was called Ba Linh, he was an old Vietnamese Communit soldier with the most gorgeous sparkly eyes and the smallest wife I could imagine (she came up to my elbows!). We took a small power boat from Cai Be to An Binh island and from the moment we arrived, they made us feel incredibly welcome. Despite the fact that none of the adults could speak English. We were saved by not only the guide we had with us but also
Mekong
Serpent Blood wine anyone? Mao; the cutest 12 year old boy whose English put my Vietnamese to shame! We spend the evening with Ba Linh's vast family, 10 adults and 3 children, they taught us how to make fresh spring rolls and laughed at my inability to cut up cucumber as small as they can....even if I do say so myself the meal was delicious...including the rice wine. There lies the solution to my little soldier's sparkling eyes!
Despite their small house, they had built a room for their guests to stay; a little shed on the side of the house with camping beds and mosquito nets. I cannot quite describe how they had managed to make something so simple and basic feel so homely! A lovely night of sleep was had listening to the baots power on past us on the river and the various wildlife just outside the door! The other 3 days of our tour consisted of cycling around the different islands, resting in hammocks, visiting rice producers and coconut candy makers.... need I say more as to why I am slowly falling for this country!? The other main highlight of the Mekong Delta for me was also visiting the floating
market in Can Tho. It was fascinating watching the sellers advertising their goods by stringing them up on poles at the top of the boats. The boats mainly selling to shopkeepers and other such like. With my good looking charm I also managed to pursuade another lovely Vietnamese man to let me take charge of the boat...ha ha with me at the helm now anything was possible...alright so I did take us quite close to a few other boats but I kept a huge grin on my face and even had other captains of ships clapping me! Result I have now made it in Vietnam! I was seriously sad to leave this area of Vietnam...however the thought of a week at the beach made it slightly more bearable...how is the British winter weather by the way? ;-)
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