Mekong Delta.

We did a tour for a night to the Mekong Delta, of which we arrived back from last night in the pouring rain ..uh oh!. But it was nice to get out of the city for a while. It started off early Wednesday morning when the tour guide came and picked us up from our hotel.We got onto the bus and went two streets away to the tour office where we all got divided, (some were doing one day, some two-like us- and some doing three days and onwards to Cambodia) and put onto another bus. We were then on our way. It takes 3 hours to travel to the Mekong Delta area. Looong drive! when we arrived we got straight onto a boat and went down river. This was the widest part of the Mekong Delta at 3km wide. Whilst on the river, we visited the largest floating wholesale market , where we were advised should we want to buy anything, minimum of 20kg was the norm. HA! But was interesting to see how the locals live. To show what they are buying, they tie say.. a potato to a long bamboo cane and place it vertical on their boats, boats from all around can see what they are selling. We were then taken to a factory where they make rice paper ( as in the paper they roll fresh spring rolls in out here) and all sorts of other delicious things eg.. poprice... coconut candy and so on.. yum yum!. Next door to that was  a place where they make honey with specialty of honey tea. Very very sweet! the lady came around and put bee pollen in it as well.... i preferred it before she did that but supposedly it cures cancer and the like ( very bold statements to make i think!) .We then got back on the boat for another wee trip down river. Ladies pulled up along side in smaller boats to row us for a bit, so we all got in and off we went... then the heavens opened!! Luckily, the lady had given us these conical hats to wear (the round ones) which is a bit like an umbrella so that helped but still. Around 30 mins later we arrived at the place we were to have lunch. We were supposed to go for a bike ride after lunch but since the rain hadn't stopped and looked like a swimming pool was around the cafe, we opted to just relax and wait for the rain to ease a bit before heading back to the boat which would take us to Vinh Long to catch another bus to Can Tho city where we were to stay for the night.
Once we arrived at the hotel an hour later, we checked  in and went to our rooms. surprise surprise, we were on the top floor again... four flights of stairs to go :(. We met two other girls on the trip from Holland so we all palled up to venture out into the unknown and find our dinner. Ha. We got abit lost and had to ask the locals the way to the river , where all the restaurants were. On the way we walked through a market, with fish still alive in tubs and FROGS!. The two dutch girls immediately jumped across the other side of the road after spotting them, guess they don't like them. We found dinner in a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet. Me and Charlotte ate Pho. Basically noodle soup but part of a staple diet for the Vietnamese. Fills you up!. While the two girls went for beef /chicken with chips.. Think they still getting used to the food.

The next morning we all got up and walked as a tour group (tourist alert!) through the streets to the riverside. Turns out the night before we walked in a big circle and if we had only turned right from the hotel and straight down the road we would have been there in half the time. From the harbour we got on a boat again and went on a tour around this part of the Mekong Delta. We visited a place where they make rice noodles and so on.  We also visited one of the most colourful and vibrant floating markets in the Mekong Delta. Here, many different fruits and veg are sold on a daily basis, and this time it  was not wholesale. The best part of that day was spent on a boat before returning to the harbour at around 1pm and getting on the bus back to Saigon.