Nam – Mekong, Can Tho and Chau Doc..

The areas around the Mekong and seeing life on the Mekong is something quite special ..  I loved My Tho .. stopped for a boat road through the local waterways including time at a local coconut candy factory, horse and buggy ride through a local village, a visit to a local restaurant where I sampled the local fruit, tea and music ..  then back to Can Tho through local Mekong waterways …  overnight Can Tho with massages … yay …  (a few random pics are here) ...

Early morning start to the Cai Rang Floating Markets … the biggest and most bustling markets on the Mekong Delta .. Buyers on the smaller boats, weave between the larger boats selling wholesale products, each of the vendors advertise what is for sale on their boats by attaching a long pole to the front of their boat and attaching the fruit and veg they are selling to it …



(additonal pics for this blog including mekong, cham people and market can be found by clicking here)

Mmm tasty sampling and then a wonderful visit to see the Cham people in the middle of the Mekong …  living traditionally after all these years without allowing western infuences, no power etc … weaving silk for income .. surreal

Then off to Chau Doc … but not before a stop in Long Xuyen … (the capital of An Giang Provence) … big claim to fame is birthplace of Vietnams 2^nd president, Ton Duc Thang … a visit to the Catholic Church… protestant church… An Giang museum .. and amazing Buddha temples on the way …

4 days canoeing the Mekong to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) will add that separate as Cambodia trip … oh my lordy …

Back to Chau Doc for beers in the pool, I have worn the same socks and clothes rowing a boat on the Mekong for 4 days, in weather of average 38 degrees and 90% humidity …  my legs are full of bites .. my freckles are in force and my eyebrows are white …. and I actually have to peel my socks of my feet taking skin with me due to blisters …  yet somehow I got to meet someone quite unexpected … early drive back to Saigon  … 8 freakin hours … !! arrived in the afternoon and post my trip to the tunnels and also discussions with the locals .. I spent the afternoon at the war remnants museum to see the impacts of the war first hand … funny how we call it the Vietnam war, yet the Vietnamese call it the American war …  given what ‘the Agents’ did … including Agent Orange, I am saddened to think that those that fought for the Sth Vietnamese Army and their families prefer those impacts over what happened post during communist rule …

Wonderful final night in Saigon … no more said .. its off to Rangoon then Bali ….

canoe safe - CBT - x