Hang Chau 2 Hotel Chau Doc

... went up to the window to get the passports checked and were to to go for lunch and they would see to the formalities. Very civilised. We then coninued our journey but ina different boat. Two folding chairs were provided. The crew sat in the back on other chairs.We passed village communities on the way and then left the main channel to be taken up a smaller channel where we got a much closer view of the life on the banks. <br><br>On rejoining ...

... mechanic in the war.<br><br>Later that evening we decided to go for dinner at one of the street stalls near our guest house. They spoke little English and the menu was impossible to translate, so a kind lady took Sedge to the "kitchen" (A few pots and pans and a BBQ/burner on tables on the pavement) so Sedge could point out what we wanted. This was fine, but then we figured out we'd never learned the Vietnamese word ...

... hot, but very funny, hour and a half, we sat overlooking a brick quarry bay and ate our packed lunch of bread and cheese triangles, typical vietnamese cuisine (haha). <br>Our next stop, after getting a boat back to the mainland, was Ninh Binh. Here we hired a motorbike and drove round the beautiful surrounding countryside, limestone casts jutting out of rice fields so green that they hurt your eyes even with sunglasses on. At Tam Coc we hired a boat which rowed us through rice fields past ...

... geniessen. An der Grenze mussten wir aussteigen und mit einem anderen Boot weiter nach Chau Doc fahren. Es war ein super Erlebnis auf dem Mighty Mekong River herumzucruisen...auch wenn der Spass ganze 7 Stunden gedauert hat.<br><br>Chau Doc ist zwar im Lonely Planet als Highlight drin, aber eigentlich ist es eher eine Durchgangsstadt mit ca. 3 Restis und keiner einzigen englischsprachigen Person (damit meinen wir nicht mal yes oder no). Leider ist der Unterschied ...

... and all for a good cause!<br>'Veranda' Nha Trang seafront - best breakfasts<br>'Bun Bo Nam Bo' 67 Hang Dieu, Hanoi - best Vietnamese street food<br>'Quan An Ngon' Ho Chi Minh City - Best Vietnamese food<br>'Sozo' Ho Chi Minh City - Best cookies and for a good cause<br><br>Best Beaches: <br>1 - Quy Hoa, aka Leprosy beach, Quy Nhon<br>2 - Cua Dai - Hoi An<br>3 - My Khe beach - Danang<br><br>Worst Beach:<br>My Khe beach - Quang Ngai<br><br ...

... battles they must face while living on the river. We were planned to dock and take a walk along the river, but that was shelved once we crashed into a water pipe. The occupants of the house were not impressed and once it was fixed we seemed to beat a hasty retreat.<br><br>The sun was starting to set and that meant it was time for dinner. We rejoined the Sampan and sat onboard while the crew prepared dinner for us in an old Mandarin House on the bank ...

... so pretty lanterns, massive inflatable balloons, children with deep fried things! People laughing, shouting, weeing in the street etc etc. And it's complete mayhem. There's a lot of concrete here as well but, unlike Cambodia, every building's painted a different colour. I arrived at my hotel, checked in and found that my room on the 4th floor was cool, comfortable and clean (in order of importance), it also had a TV. Now, I was pretty tired by this stage ...

... we were going, everyone assuming that it was somewhere nearby. After a couple of hours driving we got on a ferry, there were now serious rumblings of unrest among the peasants. I found the whole thing highly amusing. Most of the other passengers were not hard core backpackers; more holidaymakers and honeymooners; and were a little disgusted by the quality of service, there was also some trepidation about what the hotel would be like. I'd been chatting to a young German couple; all ...

We were up at 5:30 to shower and pack. We were able to catch a couple of innings of NY vs our beloved Tigers! We saw my Tiger Polly score!! (We checked the score later, we won 4-2, but lost 11-0 the next day; sounds like Brandon is tearing it up, I predict he will turn into a Chris Shelton before long...) We were picked up at 7:00 by 2 motorbikes (that is a first for us). I am not sure that the drivers, our bags and the 2 of us will fit, but it does. I guess ...

Another very long day of travel, via boat, bus, boat, bus, ferry, bus, etc. Finally pulled into Chau Doc, the last major city in Vietnam at about 6:00. The bus driver explained to the bus that the rice had been harvested, and as a result all the "rice flys" have moved into the cities--which explained the previous night. We were warned that this would be ...