Cruising on the Mekong Delta

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We booked a two day cruise to make our way from Saigon to Phnom Penh. As you would expect in asia, there was some good and some bad, but mostly nothing like you would expect!

We started off with a bus trip out of saigon to Cai Be, where we got on a boat to take us to some floating markets. It looked like most of the market had long gone home for the day but there were a few boats there with their wares displayed on a long stick.

From there we were taken to a small shop on the river bank where they showed us how they make yummy coconut candy and rice paper, and were given the chance to try some 'snake wine' which just tasted like rather potent alcohol. We were then taken to An Binh island where we had lunch, and were given the chance to try the 'elephant ear fish', which we politely declined (see the picture!) We did have a lovely ride on the island on some rather dodgy bikes with non-existent brakes, but luckily there was very little other traffic which was a nice change.

From there, we were taken back on the boat to Vinh Long, where we met a bus to take us to Can Tho, where we met anther boat to take us to Chau doc, supposedly by sunset. We enjoyed the boat ride, sitting on the top of the boat, admiring the scenery, drinking a beer, wathing the sunset..... Sunset came and went, still we didn't reach our destination, finally aother two hours later we reached our 'floating hotel' which was nowhere near as fancy as it sounds. We had dinner at the restaurant on the boat - partly because we were tired and couldn't be bothered going anywhere else, and partly because the tour guide told us that there was nowhere else to go! Hmmmm I think not.....

After a rather sleepless night with a very hot room and very noisy useless fan, we had a 6am wakeup call the next morning. After a quick breakfast on the boat, we set off to a 'fish farm' - which was a couple of boards taken off the back off someone's floating house, and when they were fed went rather crazy and nearly flung themselves out of the water! Then we went to the Cham Islamic village, where they showed us how the locals weave beautiful scarves, and had a look at the local mosque.

We were given the option when we purchased our tickets for the tour of going on the slow boat (getting in at 6pm), or pay an extra $5 for the fast boat (getting into Phnom Penh at 1:30pm), so we decided to go for the slow boat. On the first day of our tour we were given the option of upgrading to the fast boat which we decided to go for as we were a bit sick of the boat we were on then. Eventually all but 1 person in our group upgraded to the fast boat. At the floating hotel, the tour guide told the 1 guy who was on the slow boat that it would be an 11 hour journey on a boat with no toilet, but he still didn't want to upgrade. We all went on the same speed boat to the border, where we got our Cambodian Visas, and he was told he would have to wait 2 and a half hours for his slow boat while the fast boat would be there in 45 minutes, and he still didn't want to upgrade. Eventually, after about an hour and a half at the border, a boat arrived and everyone was loaded onto it, including the slow boat guy!

We travelled on the boat for about 2 hours, which was extremely hot and slow, then were transferred onto a hot slow bus, and finally arrived in Phnom Penh about 2:30, and had Kirsten waiting there to meet us!

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Photos

Elephant ear fish
Now do you see why we didn't eat it?