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Published: February 28th 2006
HOCHIJIM
This is me in front of the giant tin...tin?, really...statue of HO Chi MeinWell not really having a party, and there is no cajun queen turning 21...and we are not on the mississippi*...but close enough..
So we split from the border town, and headed on the stinking hot mini bus to Can-tho antoher town on the mekkong river. Got a nice room on the 6th floor with a balcony..booked a tour of the Meekong river for 530 am the next day....
Getting up was a bit of a chore..Leigh likes to hit snooze and I cant muster up the energy to stop her, so we ended up having bout 9 minutes to get up ready and out the door.
Our boat driver/tour operator picked us up and walked us the 2 blocks to his boat..it was a little dingy with a long moter on it..we got in and were off....
The thing thats great about the boats here is that every thing is really old...no new boats whatsoever...every boat ever made in Vietnam was on this river just recycled and mabey painted..for 530am there was alot of activity...first stop was the Floating Markets..we were greeted by the Bar Boat where we got really nice coffe..well nice for boat coffee anyway..
floating markets1
AT the floating markets
The floating markets is just about 100 boats of different sizes with all kinds of diferent produce and products on it for sale and trade..there are banana boats, coconut boats, tomato boats etc etc...really cool..and then the little boats from all the local viliges that are on the river system come to the market, buy what the village needs and brings it back..it was a cool experience
We had a mid morinign snack of pinaple and some sticky fruit/nut thing that tasted like ass...our guide was real keen on teaching us Vietnamese and we spent an hour learning how to say "how are you" "where you from" etc...
Had lunch at a fruit garden where there are snakes and turtles and stuff...got back in the boat, did some tours down the smaller canals that felt like I was in the movie Apoclypse now...there are so many rivers and canals and streams here, its like mini highways conecting all the villages...
So that was the day, we were whipped, booked a bus for Saigon or Ho Chi mein City, went out and saw the giant Tin...Tin?...statue of Ho Chi Mein.....I guess a tin statue is cool...I dont
Liter of beer
Went to a Brewery/Bar, got a Litre of beer 1$ know what they make giant statues of anyway, so mabey a giant tin statue is impressive...Got a great steak..even by western standards and a couple of Giant beers to cap off the night...all for 5$
One thing that i may have not mentioned before is that being in Asia is kind of like being a cross between an Alien and a RockStar....if you get out of the super toursity places where everyone is used to Westerners** everyone stops and stares at you...and every single kid says "hellooooo"....really ittle kids are really scared of you, the just look at you like they have no idea what you are supposed to be...and what makes it better is every person with a little kid makes the little kid come over to us and wave and say hi....One woman made this terrified 2 year old give leigh a kiss...strange..but everyone does it..if a lady with a little kid sees you..she makes the kid say hello and wave...
anways thats it for now..take it easy
JIM
*Riverboat Fantasy - David Wilcox
**White Folk
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Garland
non-member comment
Beers
Hey Jimmy and Leigh! Great report. I am in the office with my assistent over my shoulder reading this blog. She thinks your hot Jimmy! I told her you got VD in Bancock earlier in the trip! Cheers The beer you are holding has made me quit thursty!