Day 24 Ho Chi Minh to Mekong Delta

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We left HCM at 8.30 by taxi and arrived in Mekong Delta around midday. We met our guide, Nam and boarded a long wooden boat to take us down the river, making several stops along the way.

The first stop was a brick factory where Nam told me about how bricks are made and have to baked for 1 month to become strong, the bricks made here are mainly used locally (this was more interesting than it sounds!).

The next stop was lunch mad by a local family. First was spring rolls, soup and fresh spring rolls with elephant fish (which came out whole). A man at this house showed us how to roll the fresh spring rolls with elephant fish. This was followed by pork and rice and then fruit. The meal was amazing and only cost 90 000 Dong (3 pounds). After lunch we went into their house to see a traditional Vietnamese house.

The next stop was a fruit farm. Nam showed me all the tropical fruits which we then sampled with some Jasmine tea.

Next was a Bonsai garden, with very well kept bonsai trees. Here we had more fruit and jasmine tea (it was on this trip I discovered that I liked jasmine tea after years of not liking any tea or coffee).

Next was a much fancier Vietnamese house with the tribute to the ancestors inside, this house had french architecture. Here was also a model of the farms and people farming around the Mekong river.

Next we got on a sampan rowing boat and we rowed (by we I mean a Vietnamese man at the back of the boat!) along the river to the homestay. We arrived around 4. The homestay belonged to Bahung, a very nice Vietnamese man, who lived there with much of his family. Bahung showed me to my room, it was like a bamboo hut with about 4 rooms within it, it was built over a stream and was very basic.

Dinner was at 7 so between 4 and 7 I just chilled and read my book in a hammock and used the internet. Although facebook doesn't work here - something to do with it being a socialist country.

Dinner was traditional Vietnamese food, with red snapper fish fresh spring rolls, Vietnamese pancakes and other meats and rice. There was lots of food and it was all very nice. We also had shots of banana wine which was more like brandy, was very strong and was not very nice.

After dinner we played pool. I then had a cold shower (not through choice) and had an early night.

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