The Mekong Delta is in the south of Vietnam where the Mekong River meets the sea. It’s extremely tropical, has lots going on with the local people and is a large source of the nation’s fruit and other food.
We took a organised trip down there and stayed the night at one of the hotels.
Starting the day was an adventure to say the least. We were picked up in a small bus, then transferred about 10 minutes later into a slightly larger bus. Certainly not a bus you’d want to be in for more than an hour or at the most, two. It was cramped, pretty warm and rough to say the least. Combine that with the atrocious roads here and you get the picture…
About 2.5hrs later after braving the 80km/h traffic, 10million motorbikes and where traffic lane markings are purely there for decoration it seems… we made it to the Mekong River.
The river is enormous as are the many tributaries surrounding it. We got in an old school boat and made our way across the river to one of the four islands. This is where we did a bunch of activities, learnt about the locals and so-on. They included:
- tasting locally made honey tea
- tiny but long row boats complete with conical hats
- see how coconut candy is made (which is delicious by the way)
- had lunch in the middle of the island (basically a jungle)
- tasted the many fruits that grow natively in the area
- then it was back via a lengthy boat ride back to the bus, then another 2hr bus ride to our hotel
The hotel, was, well, basic. But 2 of our rooms were pretty livable. Poor Hannah didn’t realise until later in the night that the rest of us should have said, “don’t let the bed bugs bite”, as she had a plague on her hands. So being the thinker she is, she wrapped herself up in her poncho, shower cap, lathered up in insect repellent and slept as best she could. Makes for a good story if nothing else!
We went out on the town for the evening. Absolutely nothing like Saigon – still busy, still a crap-load of motorbikes, but nothing like Saigon. The people clearly weren’t as used to tourists and were very friendly towards us. No pushing of stuff we don’t want on us either – was very enjoyable. We checked out the bakery, bought some incredibly cheap goods (dinner costs per person was about 90c for 3 items), then made our way to a cafe style place.
It was a long day so after a few drinks and checking the local night markets, we headed back to the hotel ready for a big day 2.