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Published: February 6th 2014
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Accommodation - Bassac Boat 3 - on the Mekong River
Accommodation - Victoria Hotel Chau Doc
Weather - Hot, sunny/cloudy 30c
We enjoyed a wonderful Vietamese meal, on our last night in Ho Chi Minh City at May Restaurant which we had found on tripadvisor. A taxi ride through the city was very cheap, only £2, and we then walked up a tiny alley between houses and shops, with the three storey townhouse restaurant at the end. We were seated on the top floor, on an open veranda, overlooking the small street and houses. The staff were very friendly. Our meal of crab, prawn and pork spring rolls with different sauces for each style of roll was followed by sautéed beef with onions and pork in pepper sauce - wonderfully tasty and very reasonably priced.
The following morning a three hour drive along busy roads, through small towns and hamlets, never ending paddy fields and farmland saw us arrive at the bustling riverside town of Cai Be. Here we boarded a wooden riverboat - Bassac 3 - a delightful boat with 12 cabins. Although very small the cabins were perfectly adequate for one night and even had
a small en-suite! The food on board was superb - consisting of home-style Vietnamese cuisine, which even included freshly baked bread for breakfast.
We had a trip, on small longtailed boats, down narrow waterways, passing close to small villages and waterside shacks. We then walked through the countryside to a village to see locals' houses and try various exotic fruits. Everyone we met was friendly, with smiling faces, and trying out their English with a few words of greeting. Back on the boat, we sat on the open deck, with a cooling beer, while watching the life on the Mekong pass us by and seeing the sunset over the river.
After a surprisingly comfortable night we sailed up river to Can Tho to watch a floating market where local farmers sell their produce directly from their boats. Some farmers having travelled down river for up to 12hrs to reach the market and then stay for several days, living on their houseboats, until they have sold out.
Having met our guide and driver we headed onto Chau Doc, a busy river town to stay overnight at the Victoria Hotel, a splendid old Colonial-style building on the Mekong River
with wonderful views of activity on the river. A short boat trip took us to a floating village, where the residents farm fish in massive nets underneath their houses. They are mainly farming Bassa fish which is ultimately destined for supermarkets fridges in Britain and elsewhere in western Europe. We enjoyed a meal in the air-conditioned restaurant, as the heat and humidity - but especially the vicious mosquitoes -where too great for us to sit on the terrace!!
Next morning we had an early start, driving close to the Cambodian border, to the border crossing at Ha Tien. En route we stopped at the poignant Bone Pagoda of Ba Chuc, a memorial to villagers killed by Khmer Rouge forces in 1978, being massacred in the Pagoda, where they had taken refuge.
Arriving at the border crossing we said good-bye to our Vietnamese driver and guide. We walked through no man's land, for 200 yards, and then arrived at the Kingdom of Cambodia passport control. Here we applied for our visa, which was stuck into our passports with no problems, having filled in three separate forms and parted with $50 and had our temperatures taken to ensure we were
not harbouring an infection! We then walked into the Kingdom of Cambodia where our next guide was patiently waiting.
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Helen and Bob
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Blog no. 2
Sounds like the trip is going really well. We are enjoying reading about it as it sounds so interesting. I don't like the sounds of the mosquitoes! Xx