Mekong Delta, Vietnam ~ Day 4

It had not been lost on me that I still had not secured a tour guide for the Mekong Delta.  My attempts at doing this from home were futile as the couple of companies I contacted were not interested in taking out a solo traveler.  While on the bus from Ho Chi Minh, I emailed Eco Tours.  It was a name I had remembered from Trip Advisor and I am fairly certain I even contacted them as they were my #1 choice but they said they needed a minimum of two people.  They said they would add me to their list should a tour come up that I could join but I never heard from them.  As luck would have it, while traveling on the bus, I emailed them, they emailed back and said I was welcome to tour with them at 5:00 AM tomorrow!  Awesome!  I tell them that I need to be on the afternoon bus to Chau Doc and Eco Tours says they will arrange it all for me.  I ask if I should leave my luggage at the hotel or bring it with me.  They tell me to bring it with me and they will keep it in their office while we are touring.

At 4:30 AM I try my best to be quiet when carrying my suitcase down the slippery marble steps.  Mrs. Ha is up and about (she told me she would be).  Imagine my surprise when I see two motorbikes parked in the living/waiting room area.  This is standard practice in SE Asia.  They even pull their cars inside the living area too.  There's now a hammock set up and I presume this is where Mrs. Ha slept for the night.

I wait outside the guest house and right at 5:00 AM Phi from Eco Tours arrives to pick me up.  He grabs my suitcase and we head out walking a handful of blocks.  I am completely shocked at all the people out and about already.  It might as well have been mid-morning, not 5:00 AM as there were that many people already getting on with their day. Phi stops at a coffee shop and buys me a tea.  It's a great big cup with only about 5 oz. of water in it.  Phi introduces me to Patrick from Switzerland (just outside of Geneva).  Patrick is here for two months. He bought a motorbike in Vietnam and is doing a loop through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.  We head towards the river and wait for Anika and Vidar (from Norway) to show up. It is pitch black outside.  A long wooden boat is waiting for us with an older man at the helm.  Patrick gets on first and is told to sit in the rear seat.  Then I am told to sit in the middle seat.  My luggage is put onto the boat as well.  Then Vidar and Anika sit in the front row.  Phi sits next to me.

We head out up the Mekong and it is black as night out.  I can easily see the bright lights of the huge early morning market where all the restaurants and street food vendors come early in the morning to buy their produce for the day. 

Boating up the Mekong River before sunrise

The boat motor is quite noisy and it's a bit difficult to hear Phi explaining things to us.  I could barely hear him and he was sitting right beside me and I'm fairly certain Vidar and Anika couldn't hear a thing.  Thing is, it wasn't just the motor noise from our boat, there are dozens of boats heading in the same direction as we are so it is very noisy on the river.

Click on the link:
Early morning on the Mekong River

Time to stop for some gas for the boat.  This is our boat Captain.

Our boat captain is busy weaving something.  In time, it ends up that he has made all four of us crowns and bracelets out of pineapple fronds.  Unfortunately, I lost my bracelet along the journey this day and I threw out my crown as I didn't think it would make it through any Customs checkpoint.

We travel 40 minutes and we come to Cai Raing market which was once the largest floating market in SE Asia.  However, changing with the times, it no longer holds that status and the number of vendors are dwindling.

The owners of these boats sail in with their goods and they live on their boat 24/7 in that spot for as many days as it takes for them to sell all of their product.  They are selling to shop owners in the city who come out on their own boats and buy from them.  They do everything on these boats, never leaving them:  washing their laundry, their hair, cooking and dumping their sewage into the river.

Displayed on the pole is what this particular boat is selling:  cabbage; onions, yams etc.

We tour up one side of the floating market and down the opposite side so we can see everything.  Any kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine is being sold:  pineapple; tomatoes; cabbage; yams; and a bunch of things I have no clue what they are.

We now leave Cai Rang market and sail further down the Mekong to a much smaller floating market.  We are late though so there are not very many boats at all.  These boats return home each and every day.  Every morning they motor to this location and around 8:00 AM they are already on their way home.  They probably start out from home at 2:00 or 3:00 AM to be ready to sell as soon as dawn shows up.

We manage to pull a few things from the water:

Water Hyacinth
The fibers from this plant are used to make purses, shoes and hats and even furniture

This watermelon fell of a boat so we picked it out of the water.

Every so often everything becomes quiet as the boat motor is shut off in order to clean garbage from the propeller.  "Baby napkins" (as Phi called it) was what we in North America refer to as a diaper; plastic bags were a huge inconvenience to the motor as well.

Around 8:00 AM we pull up to a dock and stop for breakfast.  No menu as we all get Pho.  It is delicious.  We eat it while sitting up on the rooftop of the restaurant.

Breakfast (with a view) is served

Next arrives a dish of lovely fruit: the sweetest pineapple, dragon fruit, mango and watermelon.  Yummo!

No time for lolly-gagging, we eat our meal, use the bathroom facilities (no toilet paper!).  I forgot to put the TP in my purse (it was in my backpack) but I managed to scrounge up enough kleenex and napkins for Anika and myself.

Our driver pulls up his boat up to the dock and we climb in.   The seating arrangment changes and Anika and Vidar are seated in the rear, Patrick is in the middle and Phi and me are in the front.

Our Captain and his boat.

We head back in the direction from which we initially came, motoring past the Cai Rang Market.

Caskets

Every so often you spot a flip-flop in the water.  

Those tall sticks are called a Monkey Bridge.
It consists of a pole that you walk on and a horizontal pole (banister) about chest height that you hold on to as you're walking across.  This Monkey Bridge goes from the house to the boat.

See the lady jumping from one boat to another?  This is how we had to get on and off our boat too.
You pull up beside a boat that is already moored and you walk across each boat to get to land or a dock.

Rather than continuing on straight ahead, we take a left hand turn and motor up a tributary.  Traveling the tributaries is my favourite part of the adventure.  Everything is so interesting and foreign.

After boating up the tributary for a bit, the water starts to get rather low so our Captain pulls ashore and we all hop out in order to lighten the load so the boat will sit higher in the water.

In the country side of the Mekong Delta

Deceased family members are buried on family property.
Some plots of land have a lot of these on them.

While on our trek through the country side, we passed by what appeared to be a church service with loud singing.  It was all men, many of whom wore white bandannas around their head.  After we passed by, Phi said it was a funeral.  It was a very unique experience to be walking through the jungle and to hear that music and to witness it.

You can see how low the water receded.

Bridge across a tributary.
You can see the water marks on the posts of how high the water was just mere hours earlier

Trekking through the countryside of the Mekong Delta.  I can't tell you how often I thought "there was a war fought right here in these jungles and tributaries".  I can't imagine how grueling that must have been.

Fruit is readily available

Not much water left here but it will fill back up again in an hour or so.

Phi explaining to Patrick all about the rice field

Beautiful home along our trekking route.  This was an anomaly.  No other home was this nice.

Pineapple takes 3 years to grow to this stage

Once we're done trekking we meet up with our boat driver, get on the boat and go a short ways until we pull up to shore again.  There is a rice noodle factory we are going to look at.  I was surprised to see rice paper and rice noodles drying in the sunshine on mats made of palm leaves.  I don't think that is sanitary in any which way but I guess what you don't know about how your food is made might be just as well.

Rice paper wrappers

Rice noodles

Our Mekong River tour is coming to an end now.  We motor along the tributaries and our captain takes a left-hand turn up another tributary.  How he knows his way around this little canals and tributaries is beyond me.  There are so many of them.  We soon reach the massively wide Mekong River again and travel only about 10 minutes to our landing dock.

We all get off the boat.  I tip the Captain and Phi as it was absolutely the most enjoyable day ever.  It will certainly go down as a lifetime memory for me.

The entire time we were on the river, the Kenny Chesney song  The Life was playing through my head.  

We all walk up to the street and say our goodbyes.  

I need to wait for the shuttle bus in this same spot where we said our goodbyes.  I am on my way to Chau Doc.  Phi is so kind, he waits with me the entire time.  I tell him it is completely unnecessary but he insists.  He even went so far as to reserve my bus ticket while we were out boating the Mekong Delta.  He literally got on his cell phone and emailed or called the bus company, ordered my ticket and told them where to pick me up from.  That is amazing customer service.

~ The end to an absolutely amazing day. ~

Can Tho, Vietnam ~ Day 3

The bus pulls into the Can Tho bus station on the outskirts of the city.  A woman approaches and asks me if I need a shuttle then tells me to follow her. My initial thought is she is trying to sell me something but nope she's legit.  She is on her cell phone calling shuttle drivers trying to find an appropriate shuttle for me to get on.  She keeps telling me to follow her and then I think she realizes it's not going to be an easy task so she tells me to sit down.  It feels like it's about +35 C. and there is no way I want to sit down.  I keep standing and within a couple of minutes she has found a driver to take me where I need to go.

The shuttle ride from the Can Tho bus station to my guest house takes only about 15 minutes.  I love the sculptures and decorations in this city.  So beautiful.  Massively huge art work of brightly coloured flowers.

I get the impression that every employee who works for the bus company hates their job.  They are unhelpful and just give off negative energy.  This shuttle bus driver is no different.  He pulls over to the side of the road and tells me to get out as he points over his left shoulder and says my hotel is "over there"!  I have no clue how to open the door to the van so another passenger opens the door and I push my suitcase out of the van myself.  I cross the street and don't see any guesthouse.  The locals look at me and point up to a sign "Thanh Ha Guesthouse, 30 meters".  I nod affirmative and a man on a scooter rides down the narrow alley/sidewalk and yells something then he comes back towards me.  I reach the end, hang a right and there, in what would be similar to a cul-de-sac, is my guesthouse.
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The owner, Mrs. Ha greets me.  She tells me to sit down as my room isn't ready yet.  She gives me a large glass of iced tea (some strange fruit or herb I had never heard of - not your typical North American iced tea) and a plate of pineapple and papaya.  What a nice welcome.  There are four tourists sitting in this front room/lobby area.  They are all packed up and waiting their ride to the bus depot.

Within about 10 minutes Mrs. Ha says my room is ready and she says someone will help me with my suitcase.  This little boy comes along who looks to be no older than about 10 years old - my suitcase is almost as big as he is.  He looks at my suitcase and he is probably thinking the exact same thought as I am "there is no way I can carry that up those stairs".  I tell him to take one end and I will take the other end and we'll both carry it up the stairs.  He goes much too fast for me up the slippery marble steps and rounds the corner and continues up another flight of stairs and we successfully make it up all the stairs with the 35 lbs of luggage.

My room is beautiful. I love it!  Totally recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Can Tho.

I get settled and head out for a walk to find something to eat as I hadn't eaten since breakfast.  While I was taking my luggage upstairs my tea and fruit were taken away so I couldn't rely on that to tide me over.  I walk in the direction that the shuttle bus came (familiar territory) and am cognizant of my purse as Mrs. Ha tells me two times to be very careful with my bag.  I come across an interesting street so I walk a ways down and realize the entire street (well we wouldn't call it a street, it is not even as wide as a typical back lane) is full of tools and hardware items.  I gather if you are in need of wire, plumbing materials, carpentry materials etc., this is the THE place to come.

I don't see much in the way of food stalls or places to eat but I do pass by one place where they are BBQ'ing rolled up green leaves.  It smells good but I have no clue what they serve at this place.  I keep on walking.

I walk quite a ways and pass by a large hospital. A white medic van pulls up on the street (not on the hospital grounds).  There are numerous staff in white uniforms emptying boxes out of the van.

Can Tho's roundabout was mesmerizing and I could have stood there watching it for an hour.  How on earth they manage to get around that round-about flawlessly is beyond me.

I see what appears to be a Walmart.  I have no clue if that's what it actually is but the logo looks somewhat familiar.  I also see a very large Samsung store.  I would really love to go in there and check it out as I had read that you can purchase a dual sim card phone for about $60 US.  I wouldn't mind looking at it.  But how the hell is anyone supposed to get across the road?  I look around and don't see anyone attempting to cross as the road is pretty wide.  Despite the fact it doesn't have any marked lanes I would guess it's minimum 6 lanes of traffic.  I look up hoping to see a pedestrian cross walk but it's non-existent.   I guess I'm not meant to check out the Samsung store.

I'm still not seeing anything that resembles food and I've walked quite a distance so I decide I'd better turn back.  As I pass by the restaurant BBQ'ing the green leaves the restaurant is actually fairly busy inside.  I decide "what the hell", I don't know what it is I am eating but I'm starving and will try it.  I  walk in and sit down.  The man at the BBQ approaches and lifts up one finger.  I reply by lifting up one finger.  Within mere seconds I have an entire spread laid before me:

All the making for salad rolls.

The man lays out two rice paper wrappers on my plate, then he adds a lettuce leaf, some rice noodles, the BBQ'd green leaves, some pineapple, sliced cucumber spears, some green leaves (no clue what they are), and spears of white radish.  Then he rolls it up for me.  Okay, I've got the hang of it now.

I will say it was really delicious.  I couldn't finish it all.

This woman is chopping all the vegetables and pineapple and is stacking up numerous plates of veggies behind her.

When it comes time to pay, the man at the BBQ brings over his entire money box to my table and pulls out the bills he needs from me.  I can't recall exactly how much I paid for this filling meal but it was approx. $1.75 Cdn.






I continue on to my guesthouse and take some photos along the way.

Beautiful traditional outfits

Household furniture for sale.
I saw a table and a coat rack leave here and be carried home by way of motorbike.

Out for a ride.

Pick up from school

Ho Chi Minh to Can Tho, Vietnam ~ Day 2

I awoke around 5:30 AM and got organized to leave this city today.

I went for a short walk around the neighbourhood as I wanted to see what the traffic was like on a Monday morning.  I was told that Sunday's traffic wasn't even all that busy and I wanted to see that for myself.  I also needed to get a jug of water to last me for the 4 hour bus ride to Can Tho.

Circle K is popular here.  It's similar to 7-Eleven.  I picked up 1.5 litres of AquaFina water for 10,000 VND (that's 57 cents/Cdn).  Now doesn't that just reiterate how we are over-charged for water in North America?  I go into the Circle K and get a bottle of water from the cooler but there doesn't appear to be a clerk on site. I wait and wonder why no one has come out from where ever yet.  I look around and there she is!

I guess if you're THAT tired you really can sleep anywhere.

Here are some photos from the neighbourhood this morning.

These are sold to the hotels and stores.  

The shop keeper comes out and sorts through the ones she wants to buy.

                       There is zero space between buildings.

He was cooking fish and it smelled delicious.

Fish cooking.

Mind boggling.  I'm thinking if one of these wires goes faulty they probably just leave it up there and restring a new one to the source.

You can set up shop wherever you like.
She is selling the famous Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich).  Made to order.

I guess no one here complains about not getting parking near the door.
These bikes are literally blocking the entrance.  I went inside Starbucks to have a look.
Minimal menu compared to North America.

I return to my hotel to have breakfast.  Yogurt, muesli and fruit salad and Vietnamese coffee.
I chat up three guys from Denmark and Norway.  It's always the same conversation with strangers:  "Where are you from?  Where are you going?  How long are you traveling for?"  One guy comments that being as I've only been in Vietnam a day that I am very brave to try Vietnamese coffee.  I don't know... it's something I've read about but really have no clue what I'm in for.  He explains why the hotel staff asked me if I wanted hot water or ice with it. I said I would have it hot.  Apparently it is very thick similar to syrup and sweet.

Vietnamese Coffee

Well no clue what the hell is going on with this site but two days after posting this blog post I see that the last half of it is missing.  As well, the lengthy third blog post that I diligently saved continuously along the way it non-existent.  So frustrating. Typing something a second time doesn't come out the same way as the first time where thoughts flow easily from your mind to your fingertips.

Anyways, someone from my guesthouse walks me and my luggage to the end of the soi (street) to a waiting cab to take me to the bus transfer station.  This transfer station is where the shuttle bus takes you to the outskirts of the city to a much a larger bus station.

The shuttle bus station is old-fashioned in that they still write out the bus tickets by hand.  I find the line-up to Can Tho and purchase my ticket for less than $6.00 Cdn.  Once I get to Can Tho the ticket price also includes a shuttle bus service to my guest house.

Bus ticket.  $100,000 VND = less than $6 Cdn.

As I'm waiting for the shuttle bus, without any warning whatsoever, a huge shouting match erupts between about a dozen men.  One man puts his hands on the shoulders of another man and pushes him. The pushed man comes forward again.  So much shouting.  It was like the scene out of a movie when you're witnessing all of this in a foreign language.  As suddenly as it erupted, when a shuttle bus pulls up, the fighting comes to a complete and sudden stop.

I get on the shuttle and travel for about 20 minutes to the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh.  We pull into a very large bus station which, as seems to be the norm for Vietnam, looks like organized chaos.  I go inside the station and speak to a man telling him I am looking for the bus to Can Tho.  He motions me to "sit down and wait", so I sit down and wait.  Meanwhile buses are coming and going and people are getting on and off buses.  After about 10 minutes I ask him again.  Again he tells me "sit down and wait".  After about 30 minutes I am beginning to feel nervous as anyone who had been in the waiting room when I got there is no longer there.  They've all left  the waiting room and got on to their buses.  The man I had asked a couple of time comes in from outside and frantically points and says "bus to Can Tho".  He hastily walks me to the bus.  They double check my ticket to ensure I'm getting on the correct bus and I stand by making sure my luggage gets put into the under carriage.  Imagine my surprise when I see on the bus the two Caucasian people that had been in the bus terminal but had gotten up and went out to a bus about 2 minutes after I had gotten there myself.  They were travelling with a Vietnamese woman who was with them on the bus too.  Obviously it pays to have a local connection.  As soon as the bus starts moving a man walks down the aisle with the ever present and complimentary "refreshing towel" and a bottle of water.  Then the driver blasts the music through the speakers and I put on my noise cancelling headphones and crank my own tunes and listen to music of my choosing.

The scenes out the window are so fascinating.  I keep my eyes peeled out the window for the entire four hour trip.  Two hours into the bus ride, we pull into a large station where all the buses pull in for  a bathroom and snack break. We are here for about 20 minutes.  I follow the Vietnamese woman with her two Caucasian friends as I see her pointing and presume it must be towards the bathroom.  This building is the size of a small department store.  The bathroom is huge and filthy.  At least there's one bar of soap to share between the sinks but absolutely nothing with which to dry your hands. 

Bus station in Ho Chi Minh

Fruit for sale in the bus stop mid-way between HCMC and Can Tho.

We pass through the country side, small towns and, as I had read on Trip Advisor, you know you're approaching Can Tho when you come over the great big bridge.

Here are some photos from along the way between Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho.

Not this photo, but the craziest dog riding a scooter that I've seen was with a man and woman on their bike and laying on it's stomach splayed out on the seat, with the front legs hanging over one side of the bike and the rear legs hanging over the other side of the bike was a full grown golden retriever.