Continuing through the Mekong Delta and a stay on a floating house

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Vinh Long to Ben Tre- 16th Feb

Vinh Long had a large market with masses of fresh fruit and veg. Stalls selling up to 20 varieties of rice and a fish section which also had tanks full of snakes for sale. However, no baguettes were available.

We crossed the river on a packed ferry of bicycles and mopeds. We enjoyed our first bowl of Pho Bo (Beef noodles) for lunch. We cycled down quiet, narrow and windy roads passing more fruit orchards. Mangos, Rambutan and Cumquats were all growing in an area that felt slightly wealthier the others we have passed through.

We stopped for Sinh To (Mango and sugar cane juice). George enjoyed some games of XiangQi (Chinese chess) with the owner while Kathryn taught his son to play the card game 'Spit' which he seemed to enjoy hugely. The farming practice changed to nurseries for ornamental trees, pruned shrubs and bonsai.

We have begun to see pagodas and passed a war cemetery and a large Catholic church. We also saw thousands of huge spiders between electric cables along the roadside. This continued for a kilometre or more. We tucked into Chinese noodles for tea and found ourselves a quiet new hotel by the riverside, just outside Ben Tre.



Ben Tre to The Floating House- 17th Feb

A nightmare! What should have been an easy 10km ride turned into a 3 hour ordeal, our instructions were to ask the locals where the 'old ferry station' was. We were faced with much confusion and blank faces. We were directed to the opposite side of the river to where we were to meet our boatman. At every junction we were misdirected! Eventually, a pair of old ladies pointed us in the right direction for a boat ride at dusk to the floating house; a relaxing retreat. A chicken leg and small bowl of rice were supposed to suffice to feed us after our travels. It was a good job we'd bought lots of fruit.

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Comments

[Sue/Mum]

Amazing photo's
Hi, Loved the photo's especially the dawn and dusk, How do you manage to stay so glamorous out of a pannier Kat? Looks like you're having a great time. A large parcel has arrived here for you George. Speak soon. Love, Mum/Sue xxxxxxxxxxxx