Blogs from Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 2

Today we left the city and checked out to Ben Tre so we could enjoy the Minh Cong Delta. It's part of Vietnam produces a lot of the agriculture rice and fish that the country eats. Water is everywhere, the humidity makes me sticky, and I'm a tad bit burnt - not a bad day at all. We visited a nice farm where we were treated to some local music, fruits and honey - we even got to hold the beehive! We then moved on to a quick float down the river before seeing how coconut candy is made. Creamy, not too sweet, delicious! We moved onto lunch after another longer trip down the river on a bigger boat. We were served what looked like a carp type of fish, a pancake filled with noodles and ... read more

Our first port in Vietnam was in a tropical resort town called Nha Trang. The town is in the southern part of the country and heavily visited by Russian and Chinese tourists. It’s easy to see why they choose it for it’s beautiful beaches and luxury hotels. Maybe we need to reconsider the location of our annual Caribbean winter vacation. Our first stop was at the Long Son Pagoda. Worshiping was underway at the temple so we made a quiet pass by the sanctuary and then took the 152 steps up to see to the giant white Buddha seated in a lotus blossom. Not only is this a really cool Budda we got a really cool view of the city. The day also included a stop at PoNagar Cham Towers; a UNESCO World Heritage Site built ... read more

We departed the Alagon fairly early Sunday morning and headed Southwest to Cao Lahn. The whole team loaded into one bus and hit the road on a four-hour journey. During the trip Kristy chatted with our build crew while Brad wrote several blog posts. We arrived at our hotel, the url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g737086-d8686892-Reviews-Huong_Sen_Hotel-Cao_Lanh_Dong_Thap_Province_Mekong_Delta.htmlHuong Sen Hotel, in the early afternoon. We had lunch at the hotel and sat through a safety and mission presentation. During the presentation, we learned about the two families we were helping and that our build was a test-build for a larger effort scheduled for November. After the presentation, we loaded onto smaller vans and headed to the village. Before heading to the build sites, the group stopped by the local gove... read more

A lot has happened since my last post five days ago. Unfortunately, in those five days I have had my passport confiscated, been interrogated (and I do mean interrogated!) by the Immigration Office, threatened with deportation by same, told to leave the place where I was living, avoided a fine somehow and left a little nervous about my time here. Long story short etc - I'm now in Ho Chi Minh City, arrived this afternoon, and am heading back to NZ on Monday, two weeks early. Bummer. From the 12 March my time in Vinh Long has been in slow motion as I've waited for my status to be resolved. The staff at the language school have been terrific. So supportive and concerned about me that it's amost been too much. They have interceded with the ... read more

Hot and sticky. Have I said that before? I'll probably say it again many times. The good news is that I have fully functional sweat glands. So, with that out of the way I'll recap my last couple of days. I discovered this week that there are no bars in Vinh Long. I asked Ms Tam if there was somewhere I could go to have a beer and watch the world go by. She asked, "You mean a bar?" According to her there aren't any in Vinh Long. She said it's not like Saigon. No, it isn't. Oh well. I found a boat restaurant today which serves bia on their top deck so I was able to sit out in the setting sun with a cold Saigon Special and watch the boats on the Mekong. Not ... read more