Cruising the Mekong Delta

We were up before the (Vietnamese) sparrows today. It was all quiet in the compound and even quieter on the roads. This may not happen in Saigon but the folk here do actually get some collective sleep. The highway was like a post apocalyptic landscape with only two other vehicles spotted on the entire trip back to Da Nang.

The airport was sparsely filled and we had to wait for the coffee shop to open before we could get our first fix. The saga of ATM's and available cash continued with no machines in the terminal. Penniless, we eventually landed in Ho Chi Min amongst drizzling rain and the never ending traffic chaos which defines this city. Needless to say the resulting four hour drive was quite tiresome as we had not eaten, had minimal sleep and less caffeine than normally prescribed. The bustling city traffic eventually gave way to green rice paddies, ramshackle buildings stretching along the side of the modern(ish) highways. We were lucky with our driver. He was once of these people who has some sort of neurotic twitch in his leg which means that he could hold his foot steady on the accelerator for more than five seconds. On average three. This is a very useful skill when navigating the milling throngs of congested Asian city traffic. It's quite simply annoying when going on a long country drive. And so we spent four hours pulsating down the highways over the Mekong Delta. Waterways define the landscape. Big rivers, small canals and everything in between. We travelled through many small towns, large towns, people, activity, industrialization, mostly poverty everywhere we looked. The whole country seems active and trying hard to move forward and good on 'em.

We arrived at the boat with an hour to spare (woo hoo! says us who got up at 3 am) and are cruising the Delta waterways in large vessel that caters for 24 guests but only has 12 on board. 14 service staff make the ratio reasonably comfortable. We are very happy with our room. Even having a gecko on our bed sort adds to the ambiance. A never ending photo-shoot is now taking place, Most have murky water as the defining feature, some highlighted by vessels of different shapes and sizes plying the water with whatever their trade or purpose may be. The variations in usage/need is amazing. All of us guests were ushered off the boat by tender at one stage of the afternoon and went for a walking tour of a local village. This was very interesting. Whilst we didn't see a traditional "village" as such we did get to see a variety of houses, farming techniques and one (very local) rice making factory. Also lots of chickens, ducks, dogs, children waving and saying hello and identification of the local flora.

After a sampling of the same we all treked back through the greenery to our tender to be transferred back to the cruise ship. Given we are only the people on approx 100000 sq km's of waterways wearing life jackets we must've looked like the soft, protected species that our insurance companies would have us being. Dinner with a nice young English/Irish couple and then more cruising until we have moored for the night - goodness knows where in the middle of the peaceful and serene waterways. We have no idea where we are.