You cross and the road turns to dirt again… yet these casinos draw so many busses and cars.
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| Good bye Cambodia. |
It was so nice being back in Vietnam, the language and currency seems easier, I know what to look for and how to get things done.
The cars that were in Thailand and Cambodia seem to disappear and be replaced with 10000’s of bikes. I headed for Saigon, I had a tour of the Mekong delta area booked and had to get there in 2 days. I hard ask but I was loving the ride. Cambodia was straight, boring… nothing to see.
Vietnam every corner is new and the chaos of so many bikes and busses hell bent on hitting you makes the days ride just fly.
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| Hello Vietnam. |
That night I stopped off at a small port
town called Rach Gia, the Mekong delta rivers ran straight through the middle
of the town and after a hour of walking around it was obvious I was possibly
the only foreigner in town.
I left the early the next morning the goal
was Saigon, I had booked a tour for the next day. The ride would take me square
across the middle of the Mekong delta area, I crossed several bridges and even
took a ferry over the largest river.
The following day I headed out on another
Ethnic Travels trip. My guide was (much to my surprise) Zu who I had met on my
trip to Ha Long and Bai Tu long Bay. The group was as always a nice small one,
we were 3 and 4 with the guide.
A few hours drive out of town we stopped
off at a small market place, it was a local market that sold all local produce.
Fruit, Vegies, Meet and included were rats and snakes (Yummy! hehe). After
trying some of the local fruits I convinced Zu to buy a durian (sticky fruit)
to try as she had never tried it before. In her words “It smelt like poo and
tasted like it too…” It was to become the back of all our jokes for the next 2 days.
That evening we pulled up to a nice small
village called “Cai Be”, the houses were built in rows with river channels
running down the side, the rivers were only 3 or so meters wide, just enough to
have a small trade boat float down and back.
That evening we took a ride on some
bicycles around the rive banks. It was to be a good 3 hour ride, taking us
first to a brick making factory where they used rice husk to fuel the fire to
the kiln, then to the local river ferry crossing. We then took a path that Zu
didn’t know, normally she would head back but we were all keen to go for a bit
longer and picked a random path, it took us past a coconut candy factory.
The ladies took the coconut, scooped out
the white part, then sliced it into small strips then rolled it in sugar, and
bagged it. If needed they would also color the coconut. It was all hand made
and ready for Chinese new year (Tet in Vietnam).
Not far past this the road became covered
in rose apple trees that were in full fruit. The apples were sweet and juicy
and fresh. We spent the next hour just picking random paths and riding down
them, it was a lot of fun.
That night dinner was a well presented
fried fish, which we would roll up the meet in a rice paper and make fresh
spring rolls with. It was a nice twist on the fish.
The next day we took a boat trip along the
Mekong river to another candy factory, they were in full swing as well making
candy for Tet. The factory also made other items like rice paper, rice pops and
rice wine. It was interesting to see the process of making rice paper. 
Around the back of the candy factory was
another sweet tooth factory. A honey factory. The owner explained the process
and we got to hold the honey cone with bees still attached ;)
We then headed to another fruit orchid,
this one had everything, apples, bananas, every tropical fruit and vegie that
you can thing of. It was great we wondered in and out of the paths for a hour
and samples many different types of fruit.
That evening we moved on to another town called
Ben Tre, here we would go for
another bike ride but this time guided by a local.
The homestay was again on
the river banks and on a large property with a beautiful garden. The area we
were in was mainly growing flowers not fruit now.
The local boy took us in on
all the small paths between the houses and back streets, to see how people
lived and where things were grown.
It was so colourful and all the flowers were
in full bloom.
The next morning we
took a river boat trip and watched as people fished and loaded boats full of
fruit and plants ready to be shipped to Ho Chi Minh City. The boat was small
and able to go in and out of all the small channels, some were very over grown
and jungle like.
We returned to Ho Chi
Minh city later that evening.
It was a nice trip and
I really enjoyed staying in the guesthouses and with the locals, it’s a
different experience when you can get into these small communities.
Next up Ho Chi Minh
City,
Till Next Time, HAVE
FUN!
Steffen
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