Hau Giang Hotel Can Tho

... the boats we headed up a side canal to have a look at the Delta properly - it was really great with the coconut trees and the other foliage growing out of the water and creating a narrow green passage for the boats to travel through. Before having lunch we hopped on some bikes for a quick spin around to check out how the locals live in the area. Although money is obviously a bit scarce they seem to get-by producing lots of home made fruit and veges to make a living, we saw ...

... rice & fruits) in boats and ferries to get from island to island.


We cycled very little on the main roads and most of the time on the back roads. The back roads varied from single track mud or rock to footpath sized concrete paths to one lane sized small roads, most of these couldn't take cars and ...

... rivers and had some lunch on the riverbank, again I turned down the snake which the man was more than happy to come and show me before I politely told him to take it away from me and the turtle in the barrels. We got back to the hotel and decided to move on as we had done most of the things we could in Can Tho, we caught a bus to Ho Chi Minh City accompanied by ...

... piu' grande del delta del Mekong. Il minibus locale e' super affollato di persone, di scatole, borse e pure di animali... sotto il sedile di Elisabetta ci sono borse di vimini piene di anatre che buone buone, viaggiano con noi due unici stranieri sul bus. ore 10.30 am, oltrepassata Vinh Long, altra citta' sul delta, quando ormai mancano 25 km il minibus accosta... si deve scendere perche' c' e; un problema al motore. Passata quasi un'ora ...

... footrest of a motobike in between a fathers legs with his infant sitting in the high chair. They are very talented and creative in what or how they get themselves or household items around. We were told it would be much faster to take a motobike to the floating market this morning but Kelly and I decided against it.

While on our tour of the market, we were floating along the shore line where we saw a woman with ...

... we hope for in the future on a yellow piece of paper and paid 25,000 Dong for a massive incense spiral which will burn for the next 15 days and nights and the smoke will take our prayers up to heaven - so we'll see if Buddha agrees !
After the Chinese pagoda we went to Lan's local Vietnamese pagoda and were swamped by delightful children shyly practicing their English before getting braver and asking to have their photo taken, then marveling ...

... cucumber, tomato and the deliciously prepared elephant fish, rolling it up and then dipping in a superb fish sauce ... delicious! Add a few local beers and pleasant company ... The following morning the guy from the homestay took us round the local village (at 06h00!!) - really a plus. Then we left by boat to meet up with the rest of the group on the main river and transfer to the boat going to the floating market ... ...

... bus and lifted it an inch or so and the guy got out. Apart from grease and dirt marks on his shirt he looked unscathed - definately a minor mirracle. After all that excitement it was back in our bus and off to Saigon, where a walked around for about 25 minutes until i got me a ten dollar room - no air con, no window and the bathroom down the hall. The bed was a rock and the pillows lots of little rocks in pillow cases. I don't think i'll worry about getting ten buck rooms anymore!!!!!

... tell you something....you are a professional guide right?" To which he nodded appreciatively. "Then I have to tell you, a professional guide cannot use the word bulls**t on a professional tour in front of tourists. I don't know who taught you this word but it is not a good word. Yes you may have the same sort of word in Vietnamese and you may say it with your young friends but please do not use it in front of tourists, it is disrespectful. I am English teacher (well sort of ...

... have the helmet. The wife and 2 kids on some of the scooters were obviously expendable. Once on the boat we crossed over the Lower River AKA Hau Giang AKA Bassac River! It's a good old size and there were plenty of ferries taking people and the vehicles across. This is all to change though soon as there was a mightily impressive suspension bridge going up. Just the 2 main support towers were finished really and I think our boat driver said they had been working on it for ...