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Published: January 22nd 2007
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Sunset
One of the beautiful sunset shots taken from our hotel in Mui Ne. It seems like nearly a month ago that we were in Ho Chi Min City and that I had last updated this blog because of how much we have done since then: a two day tour of the Mekong Delta where I finally managed to get past the volcano level and beat my campaign in Advanced Wars, disco bowling, a dance off (see the special edition 'dance-off gone wrong'), a tour of sand-dunes and the red canyon, and finally had a mud bath and perhaps the best massage of my life. To top it all off we are now staying in what can only be called a penthouse sweet for $15 a night, diving is $15/dive and for the first time in a couple years I enjoyed an awesome waffle topped with wip cream and chocolate. Needless to say this last week has only re-inforced my love of Vietnam: the people are friendly, there aren't as many tourists as Thailand but still enough to have a good time and it is super easy to get around thanks in large part to the company T & M that operates tours and buses from North to South. Thankfully, they also have some different
A canal in the delta
A local man fishes in one of the smaller canals in the delta. I really hope it's not what they sold us for lunch. foods here other than fried rice and chicken which I have come to despise. Before I leave I will definately have to try snake, dog, frog and some of the other delicacies of the country.
Mekong Delta Tour Where do I begin? For $15 including breakfast, lunch and accomodation we set out to visit the Mekong Delta in South-West Vietnam where the Mekong River beginning in China finally branches into several rivers and canals and reaches the sea. The area is home to the third largest city in Vietnam and produces more than enough rice to feed the entire population and most of the agricultural products as well like Jack Fruit, pomellos (large sweet tasting grapefruits), and dragon fruits. Almost all of the travel through the region relies on boats which is probably one of the main reasons for the polluted state of the river - that and the fact that there are dead pigs floating in the river. Taking small wooden boats we propelled through the various canals visiting factories, homes and the floating markets. Unlike our conception of a factory, here the factories are no more than small wooden shacks manned by one or two families
The market
A local woman purchases pineapple from one of the venders at the market. and producing coconut candies or rice paper. The floating market, hundreds of boats anchored on the river with the type of fruit they were selling hoisted as a flag, was definately a highlight of the trip along with the sunglasses and hat that I was able to purchase. The area was definately worth the visit and while I think a one day tour would have been sufficient, I also feel as if I could have spent several weeks in the region. The tour was topped off with a trip to a disco bowling club back in Saigon where James of course bowled fantastic games and I proved to be a decent bowler if I don't drink.
Mui Ne We continued our trek north through vietnam stopping first at the small town of Mui Ne, a 23 km stretch of palm tree lined beach and home to the white sand dunes, red sand dunes, and red canyon. We decided that instead of spending our first few days lying around and doing nothing, we would get the tourist stuff 'over with' on our first day. Unfortunately most of the tours were far too expensive or included sights that we deemed
The dunes....
I'm really surprised there were no kids in this shot. far too boring to visit. I took off around the town in search of someone who owned a jeep or a bike and who would take us for a more reasonable price. The search paid off and Poh, or Pang, or whatever his name was took us to the lovely canyons and the red sand dunes, which were not quite as good as the one's in Namibia, but were impressive nonetheless. Local kids provided sleds for us to tobogan down the hills and jumping off the lips were even more fun. Since we were heading out for sunset we thought it appropriate to pick up a couple bottles of wine and some beers. It was well worth it, but unfortunately what began as simple sun downers lead to perhaps one of the most painful experiences of my life: walk-off gone wrong. Check the next special edition blog for details.
Final Thoughts We have since moved north from Mui Ne and are now in the lovely town of Nha Trang living in a palace. While I would have loved to spend more time in these cities, unfortunately time and money demand that we move quickly.
The number of
At the rice paper factory...
These pigs eat all the waste and man were they huge. Ask for one of these from Dad erin. Canadians that we are meeting on our travels continues to grow at an alarming pace. In the last week we have run into about 15 - no exageration - Canadians.
I had to re-write this blog several times because of computer errors. All tension that was alleviated by the massage quickly returned.
The mud bathes and mineral bathes, despite Jord's impressions, were simply wonderful and has left my skin feeling exfoliated and extremely smooth.
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