Sunrise over the Delta

As the sun broke over the crystal clear waters, birds chirruped a song of morning delight and butterflies flitted gracefully around the ceiling of the cabin whilst a symphony of angels hummed softly in the background. We peeked out of our window to experience dawn over the Mekong Delta and reality set in. Yes, the sun was rising - the bonus here was it pretty much stayed unobscured by clouds the whole day (first time for the trip). No - the water was still the same humanfied putrid brown, the humming noise was the engines of the ship and the butterflies were a colourful picturesque way of creating a visual landscape. It was all still pretty cool though.

We had breakfast on the deck as we headed towards our next destination (shrug of shoulders was what anyone could tell us). Driving headlong through fishermen's nets, the never ending flotillas of waterborne plants and human debris we eventually ended up at an obscure bank surrounded by a swarm of sampans driven by local ladies all dressed in blue and wearing those conical hats. Two by two we boarded the sampans, donned similar hats and headed off into a small canal which can only be described (well maybe words fail me here) as an amazing experience. We had already seen local village life on foot - now we were seeing it from the veins (think life blood) of the region.

We were so lucky. our sampan driver was an obviuos novice who not only lacked the technique of this obscure rendition of gondola propulsion but also lacked the energy required to get us through the 30 minutes (normally) time taken to navigate this particular meandering, tree covered, occasionally congested back road. At some stages the old metaphor of being up a similarly coloured creek without a paddle came to mind. All good fun. we were passed a few times by others in the group but eventually we all made it to our waiting longboat where we headed off to view the floating markets which were well and truly closed for the day.

We then had a hair raising bike ride through a typically chaotic Vietnamese town to have brunch at an old rich persons house which had been handily converted into a tourist brunch location. They had pools of fish which we happily consumed a couple of before a walk through the stifling heat (sun was still out) to a last commute on the long boat for a short trip to our end of tour drop off point.

We were lucky (yet again) in that we had our own car for the trip back to Saigon. This driver also pulsated along the highways, however this time it was less than the two hours before we were deposited back into the same hotel were were in a week ago (great location - thats why we came back). Already seriously over our baggage allowance we went shopping. Shopping shopping and more blinking shopping. Markets and arguments (still not allowed to walk way if you ask a price and decide not to buy) thus ensued. Exhausted (again) we went for a massage at our favorite haunt. not as good as last time and yet we really can't complain. Dinner in same Japanese fusion restaurant that we went to a week ago. It was OK but we really should have ordered vietnamese items (when in Rome... yadda yada). Ice blocks in urinals.... where does that come from? Is it because they can't afford the specifically designed cubes we have or is it simply a challenge? Last night of relaxing before we head home to grace Melbourne with our immediate presence. Enough of this blog stuff - it's time to see the real us. From now on if you want to know what we're up to....ask :) Just let us get there first though. We still have a morning in Ho Chi Min and then an 18 hour ordeal to get there. It's been a great trip - looking forward to getting home all the same. One more post due for this trip and photo's still to be added.