2 Days Mekong Delta trip

In the meantime, we arrived back home in Malaysia. That is as well the reason for the delay in our blogging - since we are now busy sorting out the upcoming wedding from July here in Malaysia. But now we found some time to tell you about our amazing two days trip to the Mekong Delta!

South of Vietnam is famous for the 'Mekong Delta'. Vietnam's 'rice basket' is a watery landscape of green fields and sleepy villages, everywhere crisscrossed by the brown canals and rivulets fed by the mighty Mekong River. We decided to go for a two days tour package where we would get the chance to see the famous floating market of Càn Tho, visiting a tropical fruits plantage, a rice factory, a coconut candy factory, spend a lot of time on the rivers getting around and as a highlight stay overnight in a rural village with locals (instead of the cheap hotel that came with the package).

Map of the Mekong Delta / Situationsplan Mekong DeltaAnother early start - 8.00am at the tourist office - and we got taken by bus into the Mekong Delta (about 3 hours drive from Saigon). Where we transferred from the Bus into a boat. First stop with the boat was a bee farm where we could taste some local honey and watch the bees at work!

After that, we went on to a rice paper factory where they distilled local Whiskey out of rice - of course we got to try that one as well! We spent quite some time on the boat getting around which gave us a nice impression of the life at the river.

Mishell got mistaken a few times for being a local - was it the hat? / Mishell wurde einige male für eine Vietnamesin gehalten - ob es der Hut war?

Bees at the 'bee farm' / Bienenfarm Bees! / Bienen!
Making Rice Paper / Herstellung von Reispapier
Brewing local Whiskey (40% Alcohol) from rice / Herstellung von lokalem Whiskey (40% Alkohol) aus Reis
Interesting view with Catholic church in background / Interessante Ansicht mit der katholischen Kirche im Hintergrund
The first day of the tour finished already about 4pm when the bigger crowd of our tour-group got to check in at one of the local ZERO-star hotel. The hotel had some very interesting rules as you can read. Not just because of that we were very happy to have followed the tip of the 'Lonely Planet' guide that recommended a 'Homestay' with a local family.

Not knowing what will expect us, we were sitting in the hotel Lobby waiting for our host-parents to pick us up. The pick-up service was provided in the form of the host dad and his eldest son picking us up on their motobikes (for a 30 minute ride deep into the 'jungle')!

I like number "2" and "4" best.. / Nummer 2 und 4 sind sehr interessantThe homestay turned out to be like a youth-hostel in the most rural village you can imagine. It took us about 30min by motobike to get there. The homestay family runs this hostel as side income and they can host about 30 guests. It is very basic but there was even a toilette/shower in our room. The 'dad' works as a Chemistry teacher at the local school in the daytime, and moonlights as a homestay host after school hours.

After arriving at the homestay the oldest son took us on a bike tour around the village. It was very interessting to see how the people there still use the river in their daily routines (e.g. washing clothes, bathing or washing dishes).

Dinner was cooked by the mum and therefore was very authentic Vietnamese cuisine *Very yummy*. Later in the evening all the homestay guests gathered to a cosy chiling out together and tasting some home-distilled Vietnamese Whiskey. The host-father then took out his guitar and sang some songs for us under the moonlight (with some more locals who joined).

Our deluxe room with en-Suite/ Unserem Deluxe Zimmer am Mekong Delta (mit Badezimmer & Mückennetz)
It was so fun to be cycling around the countryside...breathing in the fresh air!
Sunset by Mekong Delta / Sonnenuntergang Waiting for some local construction to finish before we could continue cycling...
Some heavy roadwork going on / Bauarbeiten auf unserer Route Quicksand! / Triebsand! Bamboo bridge / Bambus Brücke Bridge too low for boats? No problem...just take it apart! Outdoor toilet / Freiluft Toilette & WC Pasci tries to climb across the bridge / Pasci überquert die BrückeDid it! / Geschafft! A picture with the locals / Ein Bild mit den Einwohnern Sunset / Sonnenuntergang am Mekong Delta The moon was up early/ Der Mond war früh am Himmel Mekong Delta

Washing feet by the river / Füsse waschen am Fluss Chilling out under the moonlight / "Chilling out" unter dem MondlichtHomemade Vietnamese Moonshine / Hausgemachte Vietnamisiche Whiskey

Full moon / Vollmond The next day we had to get up REALLY early (05.30) since our host dad took us to go to the rice fields before we rejoined our tour-group to go to the floating market. It was well worth it enjoying the most beautiful sunrise......WOW!!

Don't think Mishell normally looks this cheerful at 6am / Tagwach um 6Uhr
Sunrise / Schöner Sonnenaufgang

Minh Viet - the Chemistry teacher, tourguide and hotelier / Minh Viet - der Chemie Lehrer, Touristenführer und Hotelier

Rice field / Reisfeld

Washing on the river / Waschen am Fluss

Local Ferry / Lokale Färre

Minh - the sun of our host family on his fancy motobike / Minh der Sohn der Familie auf seinem neuen Motorrad

Strange tree....not sure if it's a fruit tree or....? / Komischer Baum

The floating market of Càn Tho is mostly used for wholesaler who buy vegetables and fruits from the farmers who bring their products to the town on the boat. It is a very interesting market where the farmers put one of their products on a long bamboo stick in order for the crowd to see what they are selling!

There is a lot of activity going on with a number of boats selling and buying stuff. We both felt that this market is still more authentic than the more touristy floating market with been to in Thailand.

The products sold by each boat are indicated (hung on a stick) at the front of the boat / Die Produkte die angeboten werden, werden an einem langen Bambus-Rohr aufgehängt

Dragon Fruit boat...

Watermelon Boat..../ Wassermelon Boot Pumpkin for sale / Kurbis zum verkaufen

Various pumpkin/vegetables for sale... Not sure what this boat was selling.... / war nicht sicher was verkauft das Boot

After the floating market, we took a bus ride to the tropical fruit plantage where we could try various delicious fruits (pineaple, mango, jack-fruit etc.) and learn about how they actually grow.

The next attraction was the rice factory where they process the raw rice. From the looks of the machinery it would in Europe definitely be classified as outdated and by Swiss standards there were definitely way too many cobwebs hanging around. Pascal tried to help them in the factory - not sure they totally appreciated his efforts!

We didn't know that is how pineapples grow / Wir haben nicht gewusst dass, Ananas so wachsen! In love under the Jackfruit tree / Verliebt unter den 'Jackfruit' Baum
The rice factory with the ancient machinery / Die Reisfabrik mit den altertümlichen Maschinen Pasci had to earn his rice for the day / Pasci am Arbeit

You understand? / Verstehts du?

On the way home we went to visit another local market where they sold lots of fruits, vegetables, dried fish (in all possible variations), meat and toys and....and....and.....! Luckily we only had about half an hour to go round...such a huge market! So no time to buy things...just looky-looky! :)

The 'Woman's milk' fruit ....squeeze gently please!