To the Heart of Darkness... (A journey down the Mekong)

---

So we left off yesterday saying that were were off to the Mekong Delta to another homestay! This one proved to be a luxury homestay compared with our other one (we think the host family were wealthier), as it had real toilets and showers!

We drove to the Mekong Delta from Saigon which took about 2 1/2 hours, and went over a massive suspension bridge across the river... the view was pretty dramatic.

The Mekong river Delta is the 'fruit bowl' of South East Asia and produces much of the regions tropical fruits, especially coconuts! We saw big barges with literally TONS of coconuts piled precariously on top of them... We started off the trip with visiting various 'cottage industries', one was a where they make coconut candy and banana candy. We got to try warm, fresh globs of the stuff which is like coconut flavoured toffee and was delicious! We have brought a pack and will TRY and safe a few for you all to try at home but don't count on it?!

We also visited a traditional brick making place and saw how the bricks are fired in kilns fueled (very cheaply) by rice husks, not sure how environmental that is though!

We also visited a home where they make salt from the seawater and purity it in these big vats, very interesting to see!

Then we continued up the main Mekong river, it was low tide so we had to change boats as we turned off the main river onto the equivalent of a b-road, a narrow canal that snaked through the coconut palms and mangrove-type trees... Wildlife sighting sincluded giant butterflys, little mudskipper fishes and a beautiful orange and blue kingfisher type bird...

The homestay itself was a big hut with raised campbed-style beds (that were actually pretty comfy), all built on the side of this Mekong-delta tributary, the setting was lovely! We went on a bike ride that almost resulted in us tipping over into the yellow-brown silt-y streams but luckily we managed to keep our balance... We went to a local's house to have some tropical fruit and try our hand at weaving the tatami-type mats that the beds are made from... much harder than it looks!!

Some of the locals wanted to play us some traditional music which was pretty cool, our host, quite an old man sang a vietnamese 'story -song', sort of like a 'rap' as he talks to the music. He was such a jolly man who was clearly having a great time performing! It turned out he was an ex-Vietcong which was interesting to see, the whole area is so quiet and peaceful now though.

So not much else to say except that we had a fun time at the homestay... apart from Alex got bitten once and Kelly twice! Wahhh.
Don't worry we are taking our tablets though.
We leave on the overnight train to Nha Trang this evening at about 7pm. Exciting! We're crossing our fingers for a little bit of sun...

For anyone interested in currency, in Thailand it was baht (about 50 to the pound), in Cambodia it was mainly USD but some 'Rials', 4000 Rials to the dollar, and in Vietnam it's Dong... 18,000 to the USD. The currency here is giving me a headache! ;_;

lots of love

K&A

---

Comments

[Sophie Tuppen]

hi
oooh. I haven't checked your blog for a while. The Killing fields sounded very moving. Hope the journey goes well, and keep reporting your adventure. :) Sophie xx