Mekong Delta

I was running out of time on my Vietnam Visa so decided to take a 2 day tour of the Mekong Delta prior to moving on to Cambodia. I think I should have spent more time in this part of the country but did not really want to extend my visa and was not sure how easy it would be to do this area on my own.

The tour started with a boat trip from Saigon to the area known as the Mekong Delta. Along the way seeing the houses built on stilts at the edges of the river and all the boats with different cargo going down the river. All of the boats seemed to be painted the same on the front and it appeared to me to be a red face with an eye on each side. You can see one half of the face on these two boats loaded with Coconuts.

After the boat ride we visited a place to sample some of the local fruits and then a trip in a small rowboat down a small stream. I missed the seat when getting in the rowboat and gave the gave the people following me a good laugh.

Later we visited a place that made coconut candy that was really good and then had time to take a bike ride on our own. While riding I ran into one of the local girls. When I say I ran into one of the local girls I mean this literally. I am not use to the way they drive or ride in Asia. Even though it is right side of the road driving it is common to ride on the left side of the road for motorbikes and bicycles. I was riding on the right side down a empty dirt road and a girl rode out from a cross street and started to ride on the left of me but for some reason she changed her mind and went to my right and since I was already going to my right could not change directions or stop in time. I locked up my brakes but still ran into the front wheel of her bicycle. I think this scared her a lot but did not seem to do any damage or hurt either of us. I kept asking OK but she did not seem to understand and I didn't understand anything she was saying so rode off after a few minutes. I did not have a lot of time to ride so the ride was rather shorter than I would have liked but with a lot of excitement.

The 2nd day of the tour was mainly spent at a floating market around Can Tho. There are all kinds of boats selling different things and each boat has a stick or pole in the air with the items that the boat has for sale tied to the pole.

I found the floating market interesting but am sure the people buying and selling get really tired of all the damn tourist looking at them and taking their pictures. I am one of those damn tourist and liked my picture of a pineapple in midair.

We also stopped at a regular market in Can Tho and had some time to wonder around on our own. I bought and tried some jackfruit thinking it was durian but will have to try that another time. There are just so many different types of fruits I have never seen before. This is the part of a jackfruit that you eat and this little bag cost me about 10 cents.

After the market we visited a place that husk rice and then the 4 hour bus ride back to Saigon.