Mekong Delta

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January 19th and 20th.
We went from Saigon by SUV and boat to visit the Mekong Delta region of Southern Vietnam and visited Can Tho and Chau Doc as well as many small villages and towns on the very busy waterway. Part of this trip was driving through the small villages and countryside by SUV and part was by small river boat.
This is a very important region for Vietnam as it is a big food producing area. We visited several floating markets including the largest in the region in Cai Rang, a short boat ride from our hotel in Can Tho. Very interesting experience as we went through the floating market and went ashore to visit the Land Market as well. Not quite the way we shop in North America but seems to work well for the locals. We were not too sure what some of the things were but the locals seemed to be buying everything.
We were treated to several stops along the way to visit small factories workshops and shops for local food and candy.

January 20 we went to Chau Doc by road. On arrival and check in we took a short boat trip to visit the floating villages and fish farms along the Mekong River, the life line of this region, and several other sites including an important Pagoda. Almost everything happens on the river here. We were still approx 100KM to the sea. Many people live on houseboats and have fish farms under their houses. The one house / farm we personally visited is about 14 m X 35 m and produces about 100,000 fish per year ( about 1 - 2 KG each ). The fish farm net is about 5 metres deep

Very nice hotel on the riverside. Victoria Chau Doc Resort.
Nice relaxing swim in the pool after a long hot day and a couple of local cold beers !!!

Off tomorrow by boat to Pnom Penh, Cambodia.

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