OK - so there's some catching up to do - a week and a half has elapsed since the last blog and so much has happened I better dive straight in ...
Last Tuesday we joined Delta Adventure Tours for a 3 day and 2 night trip from Saigon to Phnom Penh - little did I realise what a feat of organisation it would be for them - for when you sign up for a South East Asian trip they seriously share the wealth - we must have passed through the hands of about 6 different guides, placed our butts on 5 different buses seats (for short hops), jumped on and off 12 various boats and viewed miles and miles and miles of muddy sediment coloured Mekong River - what a journey and what an experience
It was straight onto a fast boat out of Saigon and an intriguing switch from city river life (advertising billboards lining the river) to rural river life (small corrugated iron houses, backed by palm trees, on stilts over the river using sand bags to prevent erosion) - and the first of many cramped, hot and sweaty boats - but only inside - get out on the boat's roof and the breeze is a joy (if you can stand the baking sun) - and unless it's the middle of the day - when my thermometer hit a new record high for this crazy journey of 39 degrees C!
Our first stop when we reached Mekong City in the heart of the Mekong Delta (the Mekong is called Nine Dragon River by the Vietnamese) was Unicorn Island where they specialise in making coconut candy (got to use the locally growing produce and they make this stuff everywhere) and a strong wine not un-spirit like in taste - I can tell you that from experience - because despite not being a mega-fan I figured drinking a wine made from them might help protect me - maybe it did - read a newer blog for another snake encounter - this was cobra wine!
There are loads of Islands dotted all around the 40,000 square km's of the Mekong Delta and we tripped between Turtle, Phoenix, Dragon and Unicorn Islands in a small boat up narrow tributaries like this one ...
The day went by in a blaze of local 'cottage industry viewing' which, in developing countries, is interesting - but maybe not as interesting as the tour companies would like you to believe - these did feel fairly authentic and they were churning out the products for onward sale - but I can only hope this wasn't another display for tourists - I don't think so - again - these people don't have anything compared to our very fortunate selves - I'm pretty sure they needed the sales to help them make a living - and so I wish them good luck for their businesses
Having left the islands we headed to Vinh Long and on the back seat had a very bumpy bus ride - the Mekong Delta's roads are covered with bridges over the myriad of waterways - bridges that don't have the smoothest run ins and run offs - so every few minutes we had a quick flip akin to the drop of the Nemesis at Alton Towers - not that I'm complaining mind you - in fact - I'm amazed at how all these journeys are so common place and easy for me - it seems that life on the road has seen me inherit my amazing brother's ability to never get travel sick - I guess I'm always moving and I've got used to it - if you gave me a copy of War and Peace and told me to read it on the back of a bus across shocking roads? - 'chuck it over, no worries!'
From Vinh Long we skipped across the Mekong (a 20 minute boat ride cos it's that wide!) to An Binh Island and a night staying with Mr Phi's Vietnamese family - they had a fairly big piece of land surrounded by swampy waterways - and had built a simple wooden structure complete with dormitory camp beds (that were brilliantly comfy) and cold shower cubicles (refreshing!) - it was great fun - we did some cooking (spring rolls and fresh veg chopped into crinkles) before helping out with the washing up (which involved squatting on your heels and rinsing everything through 4 different bowls of water to slowly remove the suds) - the ovens were amazing clay fires with a holes in the top where various pots and pans produced the tastiest local, simple fare - a great experience - and as for drying up? - well - let nature drip it all dry alongside the kids playing with their toys and running around ...
Having gone to bed at 21:00 we were up at 06:00 (in this part of the world, like many others, the sun drives everything) for a trip to the local floating market at Cai Be Island - this is where the local farmers in the Delta bring their produce and sell it off the back of their boats - to advertise their wares they tie a couple of examples to the top of a tree branch and attach it to their bows - my fave fruit in the world is now the dragon fruit (a white, sweeter and similarly pippy version of a kiwi fruit) - you might just see one in the distance of this shot ...
The rest of the day saw displays of making rice paper and Vietnamese rice crispy cakes using a massive bowl that's boiling hot and full of warm (probably roasting) sand - chuck in some oil and the rice (in their husks) and watch it all pop into a product that should be taking over the western world (unlike those e-numbered Rice Krispies cack that I used to eat!) - and what top recyclers and innovators - the husks are recycled and burned to produce the heat for cooking - what bloody legends!
On this day we paused back on the other side of An Binh Island and hammocked (v popular here for afternoon South East Asian 'siestas') before jumping on push bikes and pedaling around local villages - it made us feel a bit special and celebrity-ish - because all across the Mekong Delta the local people prove their open nature and loveliness - you can't travel far before hearing kids shouting hello from a river bank, seeing big waving hands (the waves are big not the kids hands!) and watching smiles as wide as the Mekong itself - you will spend all day doing exactly the same as them back - and it's a marvelous feeling that everyone should experience at least once in life!
At the end of the day we 'docked' in the town of Sadec (still in Vietnam) and cleaned up at the home of Marguerite Duras - a French author who was the subject of the film L'Amant (The Lover) starring Jane March - it was typically French colonial but the dusk market kicking off outside was more interesting to keen photographers - 'veg anyone'
Little did I realise when I jumped on our overnight boat to go up the Mekong River towards Cambodia that I was about to see a natural display over the next hour that would rival anything I've ever seen - I guess it's to do with the vast, flat, land based expanse that is the basin of a river that's travelled from the Himalayas across half of the world's largest continent and 5 countries before emptying itself into the South China Sea - it's that same endless sky that is non existent in hilly, small Great Britain
Firstly - the sun dropped quickly (dusk is always very short this close to the equator remember) and lit up fluffy clouds in the west behind Sadec just as we left our mooring ...
Then a little later looking north west the orange glow of the horizon was punctuated by a mushroom shaped cloud formation, the diagonal streeeetch of dark clouds and one of the world's mightiest rivers (I'm putting it third behind the Amazon and the Nile) dotted with photosynthesising, floating plants ...
Finally - and unphotographably (for my little camera although Lucy grabbed it!) an electrical storm lit up the south west sky and fork after fork of lightning (accompanied by a cacophony of thunder) flashed and illuminated white clouds - high and south was a clear three quarter moon with a very visible Sea of Tranquility observing the earthly display - and bathing it in a translucent glow - all of the described was viewable in the same panorama!
It was unreal - as was the musty, fly infested basin shower I had before jumping into my bunk alongside 23 other boat travellers falling asleep to the chugging of a slow boat taking you closer and closer to your destination - for all of this journey was just that - a journey to a destination - that for me - made it all the more special
We woke early doors still in Vietnam (just!) at Chau Doc on the Cambodian border and a weird, flying visit to a tiny Islamic community nestling in the bosom of a Buddhist state/continent - peacefully co-existing - if all the world could learn from their example - here's our guide number 5 arranging our Cambodian visas in the local mosque ...
And then it was a long, lazy, day on a vast stretch of the Mekong River to the border of Cambodia - a crossing that was wonderfully rustic - our passports were checked alongside a Vietnamese or Cambodian farmer taking his cattle to go grazing (I'm guessing they didn't need documentation) - and after a few hundred more metres of 'no man's water' we arrived at Cambodian immigration - complete with deserted buildings, plenty of laid back staff and a badminton court - well - it's quiet - and when you're done stamping passports a quick game would liven you up for more work! (I joke for effect - it was official, the staff were were suitably professional and I was on my best behaviour as always at border crossings - but it's certainly different to arriving at Hong Kong International Airport)
Having made it into Cambodia by organising all of my money through banks I decided it was time to use one of the many local (and usually a bit expensive cos they're convenient) money changers - just for the experience (very quick and easy!) - these guys (almost always) carry unruly amounts of cash in a million currencies and denominations - and have an exchange rate a bit detached from the great Stock Exchanges on this planet - 'but I can get 4100 Cambodian riel to the dollar at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation' won't get you far here - actually - he was very competitive - and our final guide - who saw us safely to Phnom Penh and a deserved, 3 star stay for a couple of nights in Cambodia's capital - ahhh - a hot bath!
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