Can Tho - The Mekong Delta

12th June, 2007.

After crossing the border from Cambodia we managed to connect with the south bound bus to Can Tho.

The bus was $10US per person (this was the first of many rip-offs) which we had no choice but pay, as they could not understand English. The 20 seat van was packed full of passengers, and we hurtled towards our destination weaving past hundreds of motorbikes with a man standing near to open door shouting at passing motorists: "Ba La La Loi!" For the rest of the tour in Vietnam, we reffered to all crappy fully laden buses driving at break-neck speeds "Ba La La Loi buses." We have no idea what the expression actually means.

We pulled up at Can Tho bus station after three hours. We hoped we were at the right bus station as there were no signs written in English. Fortunately, out motto-drivers knew where we were going, so they gladly took us to our guesthouse. From there we arranged a tour of the Mekong River for the following day.

One thing came apparent: we needed to change our US dollars to Dong, as although the Vietnamese accepted it, we were being disadvantaged with the currency conversion. A trip to the ATM turned us all into millionaires; $200US converts to about 3.2 million Dong.

The tour around the Delta was an all day event. We awoke at 4.30am, to take the sunrise tour. We boarded our private longtailed Vietnamese boat and we headed for the morning market. There would have been hundreds of boats there with the locals carrying out their trading activities.

After meandering through the market, we stop off briefly to witness rice noodles being prepared at a family home. Then with a little more river touring we stopped for morning tea at the boat driver's relatives place. Their home, mounted on poles, over-hung the river. We were welcomed in warmly, but the language barrier affected communication,so they resorted to getting us drunk on rice whiskey. The most horrible stuff, but these Vietnamese seem to love it. After an hour at this house we carried on our tour, which was a little uneventful. I personally got a little bored of miles of river bank, although watching the kiddies play in the water and shouting 'alo' at us was entertaining.