A coffee and coconut on the Mekong

Relaxing boat ride and we got hats!

We decided to visit Mekong Delta on our way from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh. A short minibus to Vinh Long, a ferry and motorbike to our homestay left us with an afternoon to explore An Binh island. Explore is probably not quite the right word here as we were too hot to get very far. In actuality we took a short stroll to the waters edge, accidentally trespassed on to an angry man’s land, had a Vietnamese coffee at a tiny café and committed ourselves to our hammocks. Our friends at the island café were amused by us and took great pride in explaining how we were to drink our tea and coffee.(Reminding me a little bit of our "THIS is your breakfast" lad from Chitwan.)

Getting the ferry across to An Binh island from Vinh Long

Our homestay (Ngoc Phuong) was peaceful and had possibly the best internet of our trip so far. (Not bad for a silt island in the middle of nowhere.) The kids that lived at the homestay were fun. The little girl decided I looked good with a sieve on my head and that someone else’s glasses were hers to play with. This was after the four year old had run into my room with a giant pair of scissors and threatened to cut my headphone cord! 

Reading "Watership Down" together on hammocks

  

Homes built on silt buildup at the mouth of the Mekong

Dinner was both impressive and tasty…as long as we all sat in the right places. I have found in Vietnam that great pride is taken in how the table is set and everything must be 'just so'. Trying to help create space on a table is often fruitless as you will inevitably just move something to the incorrect spot!

Nothing wrong with taking pride in appearance

On our second day at An Binh we took a boat trip to a floating market. It was rather small and not super busy. Perhaps it was a quiet day of the week. We jumped aboard a fruit boat where the enthusiastic vendor proceeded to cut up every fruit in sight for us to try. She didn’t really have to try hard to sell us her goods. Rob left the boat sipping on a coffee, we each had a coconut to drink from and then eat. For later we had some mango and dragon fruit.

FBI Agent in the fruit boat

Petrol station on the Mekong

Exploring

It was incredible seeing how they transported masses of rice and other items on large boats. They didn’t seem to mind if they lost some along the way. All the boats have the same design on them. Apparently it is of dragon eyes and there to scare of sea monsters. We spent a long time on the boat which was so peaceful that I kept nodding off. Eventually we made it to a few other stops which I believe are routine on such Mekong tours: candy, popcorn and rice wine factory and honey bee farm. At the factory I found a coconut candy that I had tasted before and fell in love with once more. It is a dangerous addiction as they are sold in large packets and I cannot stop!

Transportation, hammocks and clothesline all in one

 

Dragon eyes

Making coconut candy

After some more relaxing at An Binh we again found ourselves on the ferry to Vinh Long. Here, two ladies got great pleasure at the size of my bag. Then I pointed at Rob’s and how they chuckled! Before we knew it the lady was pretending to be backpack and Rob had her up in the air!

Rob's new backpack!

A bumpy bus ride from Vin Long took us to Chau Dac, a town on the border of Vietnam and Cambodia. A walk along the river led us to spontaneously organise a late afternoon boat ride around the fishing villages of the area.  It was interesting to see how they kept the fish and prepared them for sale, though definitely coming toward the end of the day.

We visited a Cham village that largely consisted of people whose ancestors had immigrated from Malaysia/Borneo some 800 years ago.  They have maintained their culture and religion despite being spread across Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand making up the bulk of Islamic people in these areas.  There wasn’t really much to see on our visit except the refurbishment of the local mosque. The highlight was children playing but I suppose it often is!

High jumper highlight

From Chau Dac we took a speedboat to Phnom Penh to begin our adventures in Cambodia.

A FEW TIPS FOR A DIY MEKONG TRIP:
* Many people take packaged trips from Ho Chi Minh. Though this is convenient, we found it simple enough to organise ourselves. If you value the flexibility then we'd recommend it.

* Going from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh via the Mekong was a great way to break up the travel. Mixing boats and buses also helped.

* To organise a homestay you will need to call places directly as they often do not have websites or use email. If you can, have a Vietnamese speaker to help make arrangements.