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Published: July 14th 2006
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We were due to continue along the south coast of Cambodia to a place called Kep, however due to the monsoon being in full swing down south we decided to call it a day and head back up to Phnom Penh, then in turn catch a boat to Vietnam.
The bus journey back up to the capital was quite bearable. I think the main reason being that as we continued north the weather got progressively better until it was warm again! Checked back into Number 9 Guesthouse and found a legendary Indian Restaurant - $2 for all you can eat, and trust me, you won't eat it all! The name of the place is South Indian Restaurant and Bar just along the road from Number 9 (sorry for the plug, we promised the owner that we would spread the word!).
Shopped around for a while and found a reasonable deal on a tour of the Mekong Delta eventually ending up in Saigon. The tour cost 18 bucks and it entailed a bus from Phnom Penh to Vinh Phoc; a boat along the Mekong crossing the border into Vietnam at Chau Doc; 1 night at a hotel called Vinh Phuoc
in Chau Doc; a morning's tour of the Mekong Delta, then a bus to Saigon.
The day really didn't start off too well as we were told to be at the travel agent at 7am, but no-one turned up to take us until about 8am. During this tedious wait we had to endure some crazy European bloke who sounded like a pissed Arnold Schwarzenegger babble on about complete nonsense. Aside from the fact that he was a complete fruitcake, we also had to put up with looking at these yellow, weeping sores on his legs that almost certainly would have been gangreen in a few weeks. Nice eh? Oh well, it's all part of the experience I suppose!
When the bus arrived I was expecting a 1/2 hour trip to Neak Luong - 2 hours later we arrived at the river. As we got off the bus we turned to see our vessel for the next 5 hours. Oh dear. Unfortunately didn't get any pictures, but this thing looked like it was already sinking when we got on it! It was an old barge, in serious need of a lick of paint, billowing black smoke out of the
back. Luckily when we got on they had a cool box with beer for sale, so the first leg of the journey was taken up with a few beers and numerous games of cards being played to pass the time.
After a good few hours we arrived at immigration when leaving Cambodia, stamped our passports and continued on the boat for another 5 minutes until we reached the border to enter Vietnam. The captain took this time to wander up and down the boat offering us Vietnamese Dong at an extortionate exchange rate, whilst telling us that we could not use USD in the smaller villages of Vietnam - what a load of bollocks! One good thing that came from the scam bus in Cambodia was that we knew what to believe and what not to!
We arrived at a small village, crossed the border and our guide greeted us by shouting "Good Morning Vietnam!!" at the top of her voice. We were surrounded by loads of kids, who were quite charming in a cheeky kind of way and seemed to genuinely want to make friends with us. They were fascinated by the amount of hair on my
face and took great pleasure in calling me a monkey! We sat down for lunch and they insisted on giving us all massages while we ate. The massage was actually very good, and seemed like a lovely gesture until they finished and asked us for money! Cheeky little shits! Gave a kid 500 dong to which he replied with a look of disgust, then promptly ran off to buy some sweets.
We than changed boat and headed on down the river. Took a short cut through a much thinner stretch of river which was excellent. It reminded me of the film 'Apocalypse Now'. I could imagine the Vietcong hiding in the trees along the banks of the river and ambushing the American G.I.'s as they passed through. We cruised through numerous remote villages. Along the banks you would see houses that are what in England we would desribe as derelict sheds. The locals would be washing themselves, their clothes and their teeth in the river. Occasionally we would pass a water bufallo swimming in the water to cool itself down in the relentless humidity. It became very apparent that the villagers here rely 100% on the river, it is
their source of life, without it they would not exist. I had heard bad stories about the slow boat along the river, however I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it. It gave us a chance to really soak up the surroundings rather than zipping through at 100mph.
As you approach Chau Doc the river becomes busier and busier with boats, fishermen and floating villages that creep in from the banks causing the river to thin considerably. The vietnamese government have now began to control the amount of houses built to free up the river and cut down on pollution. One thing that really struck me was the amount of TV aerials. No matter how run down and rickety the houses were, they all without fail had an aerial, and all seemed to be at the top of excessively long poles.
Disembarked and after a short walk we arrived at our hotel. It was a reasonable place but the breakfast was crap! We went out that evening for some food and then off to make some enquiries into the local tipple! We found out that the cheapest way to drink in Vietnam is the local Rice Vodka.
At $1 for a litre bottle you can't really complain!! It's a strange tasting drink. It doesn't taste much like vodka at all. Combined with the coke it almost tasted like cream soda. Strange but true. It is an aquired taste but after a couple you dont even taste it anyway!! Didn't get too pissed as we had an early morning the next day.
Woke up at 6am (my god what I would do for a lie in!!!) for a tour of the Mekong Delta that was interesting, but not quite what we expected. First stop was a fish farm. It was a floating warehouse that had a submerged section underneath the floor that housed thousands of fish. It was interesting seeing how they provide for themselves over here, but at the end of the day it was just a fish farm so nothing too speacial to report. We fed the fish and then moved on the the Sarong and towel factory.
The 'factory' was located in a minority village not far from Chau Doc. After crossing a very rickety bridge that required a serious amount of concentration after a night on the booze, we arrived at not
more than a shed. Inside there was a lone woman using a hand operated loom. Lining the walls were some very beautiful blankets sarongs and towels, but unfortunately they were just too pricey. I understand that some of these designs can take days to make, and it was very interesteing to see the amount of effort that goes into it, but at 250,000 dong each, it's money that I would love to pump into the community, but I just can't afford after looking at my latest bank statement!
Overall a good day, but we really should have gone for the longer tour as apparently it gets a lot more interesting on the second and third days. Next we returned to the hotel to catch a bus to Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City.
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mum
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Pete, it all looks so interesting, I was there WITH you while reading it! I know what you mean about the TV aerials, it was just the same when we drove around N.Africa, into the remotest poorest settlements... There, all anyone wanted from us were 'biro' pens, or sunglasses. We said if we ever went back we'd buy a cheap box of both for 'distribution'! You'd be certain of friends for life!Is it the same there or is there some other 'most desirable wannahave'? Bells gone(8:45 and school's starting...)strange how time churns on whereever you are in the world! so must go and begin the day. Loads of love - mumxxxxx