Day 3

Back on the bus bright and early for another tour.  This time a 2-day tour to the Mekong Delta.  This one sounded really interesting in the brochure, but after the day before we realized that there would be a number of different tour groups doing the exact same thing and we would probably only spend 30 minutes to an hour at each stop.  There were however some interesting stops along the way, and some time for us to do our own thing.  I may mix some things from day1 and day 2 of the tour, but if I remember correctly day one included.  Many boat trips, some on large tour boats across the Delta and others on small fishing boats paddled by 2 Khmer people.  We also stopped at a bee farm, as well as a coconut candy factory.

During Lunch, which was 'on the house' but barely enough to curb the hunger that we were feeling, we were able to grab some bikes and explore the island we were on.  There was not a lot happening in the village except for a few tourist shops along the road.  If my memory is correct that was it for day one except for the bus ride to the city we would be staying at for the night.  Turns out the city was another 3 hours away.  It was dark and the streets were completely flooded  when we arrived.  After we dropped off our bags at the guest house we went on a journey to fill our growling stomachs.

We basically had 2 choices.  March through the water to what seemed to be the downtown area or head the other way away from the water,  and seemingly away from any chance of western food.  We chose the later and ended up in a small local Vietnamese restaurant.  Normally I would not be so worried about this, but we were not in Cambodia anymore, and the only Vietnamese word that I had learned was “Kamma’; Thank you( a good word to learn I figured).  Through pointing and some broken English we were able to order, and we all came out alive and well.  We wandered through the streets a bit more and eventually found our way to the river front and night market.  The markets were another highlight of the entire Vietnam trip.  They sellers spoke enough English that you could barter and joke with them at the same time.

A Catholic church we came across during our exploration of the city