Cruising on the Mekong Delta

It's been a lovely few days here in Vietnam. After the excitement of the Cu chi tunnels we decided to have a chillout day on Sunday and went for a walk around the city to see a few sights, we went to see the Post Office (doesn't sound exciting but was a very beautiful building), the big statue of Ho Chi Minh (he's a hero) and the Notredam Cathedral (very impressive). We, unfortunatley, have not had a day yet where we do not meet some sort of strange person and today was no exception as we got asked by a group of Japanese men if they could have their photos taken with us! It was a bit like being a celeb! The afternoon was great, we had met a British couple a few nights before who told us about this place called "Bobby Brewers" apparently all you need to do is buy a drink and you get to watch the latest films for free in an air conditioned cinema with comfy sofas! Well, we thought, this sounds like something that needs investigating! So off we went to see Apocalypto, the new Mel Gibson movie. All I can tell you is that the stories are all true and it's our new favourite place! We've seen three films so far and the best news yet is that you can have a bottle of red wine whilst you watch! Is this luxury?!
The next day dawned and it was a little sad for us as it was our last day in Yellow House Hotel, the people were lovely there and looked after us really well. We decided to go for a walk down to the harbour of the Siagon River which was nice, but we got accosted by a very persistant Cyclo driver who followed us everywhere, he just wouldn't take no for an answer, he kept trying to cross us over the roads and nearly got us killed several times! I seriously though Corinne was going to clout him at one stage! Then the cheeky monkey asked for a tip! "You give $1, no money, no lucky". Alright mate, no lucky now get lost! We eventually lost him by going down a road where cyclos are not allowed! Ha!
Then it was off to Bobby's again to catch the matinee! Phew, this travelling lark is hard work!
Tuesday, and it was time to move hotels, this was a bit scary as we just had no idea what the new one would be like. We weren't disapointed. It is gorgeous! The people are lovely.
That afternoon, feeling like we'd fallen on our feet yet again, we went for a walk to a park across town which was so pretty. It was so peaceful, which is rare in this city, a true oasis in the midst of all this chaos. It has lots of stunning water features and had a whole garden full of sculptures.
Yesterday was wicked! We booked a trip to the Mekong Delta. We started out at eight and got back at about six. What a day! We started off on a bus with the cutest little guide ever! He looked about ten but was actually 23! His name was Ngyuen, no, I don't know how to pronounce that either! Then we were at a harbour getting on a boat to Unicorn Island, sounds rather mystical doesn't it! There we visited a honey bee farm and had honey tea and sweet snack things like Lotus blossom, a peanut crackle thing and crystalized ginger. Corinne is very good at embracing these sorts of things, I am not, give me a cup of pg tips and a chocolate covered hobnob any day! At this point corinne held a thing full of bees and honey (you've sent me away with an adrenaline junkie!) and had a python round her neck, who was beautiful and his name was Gregory!
Then we proceeded on a walk through the jungle to a tropical fruit orchard, at one point our guide said "does anyone know where we are, because I don't" Oh that's reassuring!
Everybody was ushered to these tables laden with mint tea and tropical fruit, and we were informed that there is a special order in which to eat these, starting with pineapple dipped in chilli and salt, chuffing vile! Followed by bananas and other stuff i dont even know where to begin describing other than it's definatley an aquired taste! And yes you guessed, Miss George tucked in with great gusto! This cullinary delight was accompanied by traditonal music from the Islands top mucians, this can only be described as wailing, so the offer of a cd was politely declined!
After this we were off to one of the Mekong canals on a traditional row boat, this was really nice and only slightly terrifying, paddling along the shady waters wearing very becoming cone hats!
Off to the next Island to watch coconut candy being made, this was quite interesting actually and we got to try some which was nice. Then we had lunch and a stroll through some coconut fields. The mekong people are so friendly and love to talk to you, we were even invited in for a drink but had to say no, as we needed to get back to the meeting point. We got into a waiting speedboat for the trip back up the river for Ho Chi Minh City!
Which was great, we got to see loads of people on there boats going about their day to day business, they have very little and some of the boats are in poor shape but they are so happy, you begin to envy their simple life.

Cruising on the Mekong Delta

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam