The Mekong Delta...

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Another 7:30am start for us today and a tour booked to go to the Mekong Delta! A 2 hour bus ride took us to the Mekong Village where we boarded a really cool tour boat (with reclining deck chair seats at the back) for a scenic ride to the different islands of the Mekong Delta, namely the Unicorn, the Phoenix, the Dragon and the Turtle. Our tour guide Tam tried his best to humour us with his jokes and said we could call him Mr Likeable or Mr Loveable but mine and Mels name for him....PIMP DADDY as he thought he was Bad Ass! (errr not really!) First we went to the Unicorn Island where we boarded a smaller motorised boat and rode through the scenic canals to a village producing coconut candy! the smell as you went in was delicious! there was a supercool machine which mixed the candy and ladies who were cutting the blocks into pieces and wrapping them so you could buy packets. we all got to try them, and mel couldnt resist buying a pack and i couldnt resist getting some fresh coconut to drink!

We then rode back to the Phoenix Island where we had a free lunch but if you wanted you could also order off the menu- if you fancied some coconut worms, BBQ Turtle or BBQ Snake!! A chinese couple who were obsessed with taking pictures of everything on the tour even took shots of the wierd menu! after lunch we burned off all the calories by laying in hammocks until it was time to go!

It was a short ride to the Honey Bee Farm where they showed us the bee hives and told us we could dip our fingers into it to taste some fresh honey! i couldnt resist and dived straight in and boy the honey was sweetilicious! poor mel steered clear and ran away from the next suprise! They brought out a great big python! after a few minutes i plucked up the courage and decided it was time i held one so they put it over my neck! poo mel and her phobia of snakes was nowhere to be seen, lol.... so i got a dutch guy to take a pic of me and im glad i got the evidence!! wierdly on this part of the tour another chinese lady who we've named Jerry Maguire (''show me the money''😉 stamped on a ladys foot in a scurry to ask the tour guide if she could show her what a 10,000 vietnamese dong note looked like (even though it clearly marks on the note what the amount is!). we thought it was very wierd and the dutch couple we met thought so too!!

We then boarded row boats and paddled through the lovely canals to our last stop, a village where we tasted tropical fruits and were entertained by traditional vietnamese folk music. Oh too add if theres not enough wierd people we've mentioned- another lady we've named Elizabeth Taylor had an obsession with making sure her husband took lots of pictures of her while she posed when frankly she looked very cheesy! she also had what looked like lip liner except the line didnt line her top line and was above it!

Sadly the tour was over but it remains unforgettable... Me and mel are definetly not cut out to live in a village but it was amazing to see how the people lived!. A great end to Vietnam... backpacks are packed once again all ready for the 6 hour bus tomorrow morning to Phonm Penh, capital of Cambodia! Bring it on....

xx H

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