Vietnam - Mekong Delta and markets

Our last two days in Ho Chi Minh City were jam packed with things to do. We had booked a trip to the Mekong Delta with the same tour group that took us to the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was an interesting trip but it did feel a bit too commercial. We were expecting to explore the coutryside and get a feel for the river system but it didn't feel as authentic as we had hoped. Our journey started with a two hour bus ride to the Mekong Delta and then a boat trip to an island to watch how they made coconut candies. Of couse, I was the only passenger to get splashed with dirty Mekong Delta water. And I was wearing a white T-shirt so when the water dried I was left with a lovely brown tinge to my shirt. After the candy making we were taken to a Bee Farm and served a honey drink and some fruit.

(honey drink)

On our walk to the Bee Farm we were passed by a few donkeys and carts and we got to see some of the local houses in the area. Once we were finished our honey drinks we got onto the traditional boats and were rowed down the river by a woman and her son.

And then it was lunch time. We were boated to a different island (there were four main islands namely Unicorn, Phoenix, Dragon and Turtle island) and we were served and interesting lunch of springrolls and a fried fish and rice. The fried fish was dropped into the oil with scales and all. Once you'd scraped the scales off, it was good. We wrapped the fish and some vegetables in rice paper and it was very tasty.

(poor fish)

We sat at a table with a British man who was travelling around Asia on his own and a Canadian/Vietnamese woman who was visiting her relatives in Vietnam for the first time. She said she was having a hard time adjusting to the lifestyle of her relatives because they were poor and didn't have a bathroom and all the facilities she was used to living with. Her cousin was a motorbike taxi driver (taxis people around on the back of his bike) and was hoping to upgrade to a car to make more money. After our lunch we were taken to another island for some tea and fruit and we were able to watch some 'traditional' singing and dancing, or so we were told but the 'traditional' song was to the same tune as 'If you're happy and you know it' except with Vietnamese words.

(the white fruit with black spots and pink/purple skin is dragon fruit)

( the pink and green spiky fruit is what dragon fruit looks like whole)

Next morning was our last morning in Vietnam and we had to hit the markets.

(Market)

Our flights (we were on two seperate flights) were at 00:05 and 01:20 so we had a long day ahead. We had a successful day shopping but we have decided if we ever go back to Vietnam, we will take only the clothes on our back and a large empty suitcase each. I could have shopped for longer but Brad started getting bored after a while so we went for lunch and then went to laze by the hotel pool to kill some time.
We had a relaxing evening, we had some beers on the pavement at a bar and we had some dinner. And then it was time to say 'goodbye' to Vietnam.

Vietnam - Cu Chi tunnels

On the Sunday we decided to book a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The network of tunnels were used by the Vietcong (communist army) during the war and it was a result of these tunnels that they were able to defeat the Americans. Our tour guide was a war vet and he was very militant in his approach to us. He didn't mind yelling at people in the group if they weren't obeying his instructions to a 'T'. We arrived at the tunnels and it was very busy; we didn't have to fear losing our guide though because he would just bark out instructions at us like 'Follow me', 'stop', 'look', 'move on' and when we got to features he wanted to show us he would shoo the other tour groups away and make sure we got a chance to look. It became very funny, especially when a French backpacker started imitating him.

On the bus to Cu Chi Tunnels

The tunnels were very interesting, they dug a huge network of tunnels and underground cabins so that they could live and fight undetected by they opposition. The American Army actually set up a base on top of a network of tunnels and it took a long time to work out why they kept getting shot at in their own camp. The entrances to the tunnels were tiny and well camouflaged. They even had fake or decoy tunnels to trick and trap the opposition. We got to go through a bit of the tunnles, they were very small (and had, in fact, been made bigger to accomodate all the tourists).

Brad demonstrating how small some of the tunnel entrances were

Another tunnel entrance

Brad and I in the tunnels

Another interesting (and scary) thing was the inventiveness of the traps that they used. They dug holes in the ground and had an array of spikes in the holes that would trap and often times kill the person who was unfortunate enough to fall into the trap. The spikes were arranged in such a way that once you fell down there was no way you could get out without causing severe damage to yourself.

They had a shooting range there and you could choose from a range of firearms. We were able to fire an AK47, I don't think anyone actually hit the target but the noise was unbelievable, I didn't realise that a war zone would be so immensely loud.

We also got to eat tapioca which was the staple diet of the Vietcong army and we drank some tea.

Eating tapioca

After the bus trip back to Ho Chi Minh City we went for lunch in the backpackers district and then went to relax by the pool.


We were very impressed with the backpackers district and decided we'd go back there for dinner and this time we were determined to have Vietnamese food. We found a restaurant called 'Pho 24' and we had a really good bowl of noodles. Walking home that evening we stumbled upon an open-air concert and watched that for a while. There was a stage and lots of chairs set out and once the chairs were full, people would just pull up on their motorbikes and sit and watch the concert. All in all it was an enjoyable day.