Mekong Delta

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Following the Mekong

We left Ho Chi Minh City evetually to go on a two day tour of the Mekong Delta which would take us into Cambodia straight through to it's capital of Phnom Penh. We would eventually follow the river for a thousand or so miles all the way up to Northern Laos and it was to be a constant feature throughout the next month or so of our trip. The first day we started out early (another 6am start, yawn) and the first part of the trip involved visiting a floating market before heading to another market area where we were shown how to make all kinds of Vietnamese deserts and delicacies and were given as many free samples as we wanted (lots) we managed to cram a lot of free popcorn into our mouths like greedy squirrels before heading off.

We then carried on up the river to a restaurant where we watched a well rehearsed local musical performance and then had a tranquil ride up the river to another bus ride, pulling up into a small Vietnamese border town to witness a beautiful sunset to put an end to quite a long day.

Enter Cambodia

The following day we were up early again and started by taking a tiny bat around the floating villages of the ethnic minorities of the area. The weather was magnificent all day and seeing how the minorities lived was genuinely interesting and going travelling up the Mekong realy gave us our first taste of real Vietnamese culture in the countryside.

That afternoon we took a boat up through the final stretch of the Vietnaese Mekong into Cambodia (possibly the most easy-going border crossing we've ever even been through) and the views were breathtaking. every stretch of the river was like a postcard and was exactly how we imagined Vietnam to be (albeit admittedly from war movies). We cruised through into Cambodia and hopped onto a bus to get us into the city of Phnom Penh and it was then we realised how nice it was to be back travelling again after out little break in Vietnam of beaches and being in Ho Chi Minh for so long.

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Photos

Market trader
Yuppy, notice the filofax

Floods
Can you tell it was the end of the wet season?

Yum
As soon as he saw it Paul wanted a taste

All aboard
Honestly thought the Mekong would be our watery grave

Pringles for breakfast
Nodding off on a boat