Welcome to Vietnam

Thursday 5th January. This morning we started our journey into the unknown.....Vietnam that is, heard more bad stories than good from fellow travellers so decided to do a 3 day boat and bus tour of the Mekong Delta to Saigon, and then 3 days sight seeing from Saigon before flying back to Bangkok to explore more of Thailand
DAY 1 of the MEKONG DELTA
Pick-up bus arrived early for a change to take us to the port to catch the fast boat from Phnom Penh down the Mekong to Chau Doc. Did not feel like rushing as I was up all night with sickness and diarrhoea.....still feel a bit wobbly and the thought of 4hours on a boat does not excite me. Janina is in to her third day after her stomach upset and starting to feel better. All passengers loaded we set off just before 9.00am on our speed boat down the Mekong. Watching people and daily life on the river was interesting, although sometimes the river became too wide. Thankfully it was a smooth journey, and after 4 hours reached the border crossing into Vietnam. Only 12 on the boat but it took an hour for visa and passports to be checked and stamped. Had to change boats to continue our journey, this one is bigger and more room to move around but chugs along at a slower pace.



Typical house along the river



The smell and fumes from the engine drifts through the boat, but you get used to it. At 3.30pm we docked at the Floating Hotel where we will stay for the night. The hotel and restaurant does float on the water and gently sways when a large boat passes close by.

Our room overlooks the river....our veranda is only 2ft above water level. Local fisherman with home made raft fished in front of us.

After settling in to our room we walked out to explore Chau Doc, I noticed the smell more than Janina.... Most bigger towns tend to have an odour of rubbish mixed with the smells of street vendors cooking and selling all sorts of food on the roadside. But this was more noticeable and came from shops and stalls selling all kinds of fish and other seafood.

Janina attempted dinner.....seafood salad of course, I just managed a orange juice. Went to bed at 9.30.



Border rossing



DAY 2.
Woken at 5.00am by the sound of the fishing boat engines chugging up and down the river, and then music from somewhere....sounds like a mix of Billy Cottons Band and the Salvation Army. Had to be up for 6.30 breakfast and 7.00 back on the boat to visit a floating village and fish farm. A fish farm is a large wooden family house which floats in 10m of water. The floor has trap doors to give access to a cage below which can hold up to a 100,000 assorted fish. We watched them being fed, a frenzy of fish up to 2ft long thrashing about to grab the fish food.

Next stop at a minority village of the Cham people, spent 45mins walking round and being shown their way of life.

Back to the hotel to pick up our bags and transfer to a bus.  First stop a local market, as with all markets visited out here they sell a complete range of products..... food, clothes,bags, trinkets and locally made handicrafts. On to Sam Mountain to climb the 180 steps up to a Pagoda and views over rice fields which stretched as far as the eye could see. This Pagoda is famous for tourists to visit and watch the sunset.

 Stopped for lunch at 1.30, and on to our next hotel at Can Tho.

DAY 3.

Up early for 7.15 pick up to board our boat for visit to Cai Rang floating market on the Mekong Delta. Hundreds of vessels gather here to trade fruit and vegetables.

On the way we were again able to watch the daily life of the local people. Many of the large barges on the river are carrying rice from the farms to the rice factories for processing and sorting in to 5 types of rice. Continued by boat to a rice paper factory and watched rice paper being made and then cut into strands of noodles.

After lunch back on the bus and 4hr drive to Saigon. (Ho Chi Min City) Fortunately our hotel here was only a 3min walk from where the bus dropped us, so no need to bargain for a taxi. A long and tiring 3 days, but well worth it, we both enjoyed everything we saw and did.

Kampot and Journey to Phnom Penh

Janina was very ill during the night. Not sure what caused it, may have been the chicken salad or the pineapple shake. It was fortunate that we had made no plans for the following day as she felt unwell all the next day. In the evening she did feel ok to eat a plate of chips and I had a fillet steak and chips.....so nice to eat english food. Met up with a Belgium couple who were 4 months in to their 7 month holiday. A bit younger than us, they only decided to do it when he retired early last year.
This morning,Wednesday 4th, we were up early and again packing our bags for the coach journey back to Phnom Penh. At 7.30am we carried our bags to the bus station for the 8.00 coach , which for a change left on time. We saw our first accident, two small lorries had collided. Arrived in Phnom Penh at 12.30 and used  a tuk tuk to take us to our pre booked hotel. I had chosen this one so it was cheaper than those Janina had booked for Christmas and New Year.
Nice room, the bed feels a bit hard, but it has a wardrobe, Not that we will be unpacking as we are off tomorrow at 7.30 am for a 3 day/2 night bus and boat tour into Vietnam along the Mekong river, finishing up in Ho Chi Min City.
Whilst eating lunch we noticed that the Royal Palace was only 200 metres along the river. As it so hot today waited until 3.00pm before walking to it and spending one and a half hours walking around.

A few pictures taken over last 2 days.



Old tyres put to good use.



Bikes are not just used for carrying people

Wooden Scaffolding

The Royal Palace

Kampot

Pack you bags time, although you rarely unpack, guesthouses and hotels do not provide wardrobes and only occasionly somewhere to hang up a few clothes......... that's backpacking for you.
We were moving 70 miles south along the coast to Kampot, a small town with not a lot going on.......but we're here for only one ane a half days. The usual pick up to the bus station did not arrive so the hotel called a tuk tuk for us.......the bus was due to leave in 5 mins. It took 15 mins to reach the bus station, we were the last to arrive. The road to Kampot was a bit bumpy, the driver still managed fairly high speeds weaving around the pot holes and broken tarmac, tooting the bikes and livestock that dared to get in his way.....and he still managed to answer his phone and have conversations. The journey took just under 2 hours

Tuk tuk to our hotel cost $2, took 2 mins, could have walked if we had known. AS our room was not ready we dumped our bags and agreed for the tuk tuk to take us on a countryside tour. We were soon off the main road and onto dirt tracks passing through many small villages.
Typical house.

Our first stop was a cave temple in the middle of rice and vegetable fields. As soon as you arrive the young children from the village surround the tuk tuk and you are asked to choose one to act as a guide........ although we had 4 others tagging along. The walk to the cave which houses the temple took about 20 mins, the children pointing out the various vegetables and flowers in very good english. As the cave entrance is reached by 203 steps and steps down into the cave, Janina stayed at the bottom.

Leaving the children behind, after giving a tip of course we carried on to a pepper plantation. Not very interest so moved on to visit a Muslim fishing village.
A quick look at the old Kings Palace and on to the small fishing village of Kep for a seafood lunch. Watched the fishing boats bring in their catch of fish and crabs. Locals and tourists selected what they wanted and it was cooked while you waited........thank goodness we had already eaten.

Visited salt fields on the way back to Kampot, arriving about 5.00pm

Janina's Birthday

Did not wake up till 8.00am, our latest since leaving England. Janina opened her 2 cards, from Lisa and me, but no presents!!!! Thanks to all those who wished her happy birthday by email.
Decided to spend a quiet day on the beach, found suitable sun beds and settled down with a drink
.

Unfortunately beach sellers had different ideas, hello madam hello sir do you want a massage is the most popular. They have to pay $1 of your agreed price to the restaurant owner who owns the sun beds. Then you have the fruit sellers.

The food sellers, lobster and squid mainly, also balloons, trinkets, sunglasses etc.

They are all very pleasant and there is no hard sell unless you show an interest. There were several jet skis skimming up and down, we began to talk to a jovial man whose job it was to look after the jet skis when not in use. When he mentioned it was $20 for 30 mins I thought I would have a go.....it looked good fun. As I gingerly went out to sea and opened the throttle I hit a wave and spray covered my glasses.....should I have taken them off??? I soon mastered the art of choosing calmer water and opening up to full throttle, wow, this was fun.

Two days later and I still have a tender bum!!!!!

New Years Eve Fireworks

Went back out at 9.00 pm for dinner and to celebrate the new year. As we eat our dinner fireworks were still continually lighting up the sky along the 2 mile stretch of beach. The kids selling them must have made a fortune. Also Chinese lanterns drifted slowly across the night sky.

As midnight approached we wandered back to the main stage and watched the end of the entertainment. With 10 secs to go the countdown started, on the stroke of midnight all the westerners cheered, but the locals just stood there, wondered what all the fuss was about and calmly went on with whatever thy were doing. It is a shame that the culture of such nice people does not allow them to display their emotions.

Then the main firework display began, not as good as London, but still a very good show.



Hotel pool from our balcony





Our hotel room



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