Mekong Delta I - Boats, bikes and coconuts

A very early start - 7 am pickup. We had a lovely young lady called Hazel join our 2 day trip to the Mekong Delta. I like her style, she had left her husband at home to do a 6 week tour of Vietnam and Cambodia!

After a 2 hour drive, our first stop was Ben Tre where we boarded our first boat to take us through the area known as Vietnam's rice bowl. The motorised boat took us down the river to join the main river. We were given fresh coconut to drink on route.

We disembarked at a coconut farm up a very rickety ladder at a time of low tide. When we got to the top of the ladder, it felt like we were on a huge spongy bed as it was very deep coconut fibre. We watched the locals processing the coconuts - working with very sharp blades/knives to split the husk and remove the fibre from the coconut. They get paid depending on how many coconuts they actually process. Looked like very hard, repetitive work for very little money.

We then took a walk through the paddy fields and coconut groves to one of many fruit stops we would be taking during the trip. We were welcomed to a Vietnamese fruit farm where we sampled a variety of local tropical fruit ; dragon fruit, jack fruit, pineapple, mango and banana.

After the fruit snack break, we boarded a small hand rowing sampan boat and were taken through green, lush, narrow canals lined with nipa palm trees (water coconut trees). We saw men laying fish traps at the low tides and others wading through the narrow tributaries to catch prawns. It really was picturesque and peaceful. We joined back up with the motorised boat that had dropped us off and returned to our car and driver.

It was another 3 hour drive to our next stop. This was longer than expected as one of the bridges was out and we had to turn back on ourselves to take another route. We arrived in the Vinh Long province at our homestay. We were guests of a Vietnamese family for the next 2 days. Lunch was served on arrival ; a huge feast of fish, chicken, pork, noodles and rice dishes.

After demolishing the lovely food prepared by the family, along with a couple of cold beers, we were led to our bicycles. Our guide, Tung, led us over a little ferry, along canal paths and fruit orchards. Passing the homes of the locals who live on the river banks.

Children and adults cheerily waved and shouted 'hello' as we passed by. The canal trails were quite narrow and when motorbikes and other cycle traffic came past it could be a bit hairy. None more so than when scooters came towards us carrying a washing machine or a fridge on the back. It must be Comet delivery day!

The brakes were somewhat lacking on our bikes! An hour or so into the bike ride, my pedal sheared off. I pushed it to a local house with a Yamaha sign and they had a look at it whilst feeding us with fresh pomelo. Alas the thread was stripped and that pedal was not going back on. So they loaned me another bike. We continued on our cycle ride to a temple underneath a huge bridge. During construction, the bridge collapsed and 80 people lost their lives and many were injured. The temple was built in memory of those who lost their lives in the tragic accident.

After a couple of hours, we arrived back at our homestay to hammocks and some welcomed cold beers. Five minutes later, the heavens opened. So that was excellent timing.

After a restful hour or so on the hammocks, watching the world go by and then it was time to help the family prepare dinner. It did not seem long since we had last eaten! We helped prepare vegetables for a pumpkin soup, mini prawn pancakes, barbecued pork and as we sat down to eat, more and more food arrived. We did wonder when the other 8 guests would be arriving as there was so much food.

We chatted about our day and commented how we had not seen another tourist all day! We chose this company as they take you off the main tourist routes. They were very true to their word. After dinner, we relaxed in the hammocks again, drank some more beer and were then informed that we had a 06:00 start in the morning. So it was an early retirement to our very basic room and tuck ourselves well into the mosquito nets. No air conditioning tonight! Although they did kindly provide us with an extra fan. I can't say it was the most peaceful night's rest... the dogs barking, the cockerels crowing, the scooters along the canal paths , noisy motorised boats along the river and other weird sounds that I could not fathom out! I got a few hours sleep but I was awake from about 4 onwards as the village came to life around us.