21st May 2015

We had a lie-in! For the first time since we’ve been away, the alarm on my mobile went off without me waking up beforehand to turn it off. Another first: Sue beat me to the bathroom! We had breakfast at 7:54 am and spotted Ron and Jenny having theirs. Last night, they had booked the same trip as us for today.

After breakfast, we returned to the room to pack for what promised to be a hot and sweaty day. We made sure to take water, a towel, a hat, suncream, a spare T-shirt, and sunglasses. When we headed down to reception, Ron and Jenny were already there, waiting. Shortly after, we were greeted by the same guide as yesterday, in the same mini-van, which stopped to pick up six more tourists from nearby hotels.

The journey to the Mekong Delta took around two hours, including a brief stop at a Buddhist temple for photographs and a look around. The grounds and building were beautifully maintained, but it’s been a few years since Sue and I found temples or pagodas particularly exciting unless they’re the largest or have some unique features. This one didn’t.

Once we left the mini-van, we boarded a small boat to cross the river to the opposite bank. There, we visited a village and saw how the locals utilised every part of the coconut palm. We watched them make coconut candy, sampled it, and Sue bought some to take home.

Strolling through shady fruit orchards was a pleasant break, and we later sampled a variety of fruits grown in the area. The only one we hadn’t tried before, though we’d often seen it, was jackfruit. Its texture was unusual, but the taste wasn’t unpleasant.

Next, we were treated to a horse-cart ride through the village. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor little horse tasked with pulling five people and the cart. All the drivers were local women, dressed in heavy clothing, and ours seemed to enjoy tugging on the reins to keep the horse trotting along. I noticed the other horses weren’t treated quite so harshly. When we arrived at our destination, I quietly apologised to the horse and shot a disapproving look at its driver.

At our stop, we were offered honey tea and shown a small colony of bees before being “entertained” by a local band playing traditional Mekong folk songs. Their performance was accompanied by three singers whose shrill tones made a sound like wailing banshees, definitely not my cup of tea!

We boarded a different boat and were paddled to a small, inhabited island in the middle of the river. There, we had lunch, with the main dish being elephant ear fish (not bad). We shared a table with two businessmen from Madras and enjoyed a lively conversation throughout the many courses, talking about family and life in India.

After a short walk along a narrow path through some picturesque gardens, we crossed a rickety bamboo bridge, not entirely sure why, and stopped to view some fairly large crocodiles (though we’ve seen much bigger elsewhere). Following this, we boarded small sampans rowed by local women. It’s striking how much of the work here seems to be done by the women.

This was easily my favourite part of the day. We were skimmed along what I assume was a small canal, surrounded by beautiful, shaded scenery. The overhanging foliage provided a welcome respite from the fierce sun. Along the way, we spotted the very unusual water coconut, something I’d never heard of before, and later, I even struck up a “conversation” with some local geese.

All too soon, we had to leave our little craft and rejoin the first boat of the day for the journey back across the river to our bus.

The two-hour return journey was uneventful, save for a brief storm midway back to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Sue slept through most of it. Once back in our room, we spent a couple of hours unwinding with coffee and relaxing. Sue dozed off and woke up with a headache, so we decided to take it easy and watch some TV until bedtime. It had been quite a long day.