Day 25 - Mekong Delta to HCM to Nha Trang

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I got up at 5.15 for another cold show and left with Nam at 6 to visit the local food markets. Very different to the markets I had previously visited as this is frequented only by Vietnamese, whereas the other markets are mainly aimed at tourists. The market was very different to anything I had seen before. The fish were so fresh they were still partly alive and were flapping in the shallow water they were being kept in. A lot of the fish being sold came from the river. The chickens and ducks were tied up but still alive and there was a whole (dead) pig all chopped up including its head, trotter, intestines, lungs and other less pleasant body parts.

We got caught at the market for a while due to rain. It was great being with Nam as he could translate things peopel were saying about me. I'm going to miss asia as here everyone thinks you are beautiful just because you are white! However the people at the market thought I was 16!

When we came back from the market we had breakfast; egg, bread and fruit.

After breakfast we said goodbye and got back on the boat. We passed the wholesale floating markets which were selling food. The mekong river is a busy river with lots of trade taking place. We then stopped at a rice place. I saw how they made rice cakes, coconut sweets and rice paper all by hand. I tried some of their rice products with some jasmine tea.

After this we got back in the car and drove for 3 hours to HCM. Here we met back up with Nic & went for food. Nic left for the airport at 3, quite sad to say good bye, but hopefully we will be able to meet up again in Sydney. Nic was on her way to Australia via Bangkok. I then spent the afternoon chilling: internet, ice cream, wandering etc.

Tony & I went out for dinner and then chilled back in the room until 10pm when we got a taxi to the train station to board an overnight train. The train left at 11. This train was nicer than the fist overnight train, we were in a cabin sharing with a Vietnamese family. Much cooler and comfier than the first train, managed to sleep most of the way until the train arrived in Nha Trang at 5.30am.

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