Tay Do Hotel Can Tho

... drove 3hrs north to a town called Chau Doc on the Cambodian border stopping at a crocodile farm and a buddist temple on the way. At the farm there were hundreds of crocs sunning themsleves in the concrete enclosures most with their huge mouths open (which they do to regulate their temperature). The temple at Sam mountain sounded like a bit of a trek but turned out not to be too bad. The climb was pretty easy up to the temple and we were rewarded with panoramic views across the ...

... were friendly & calling out to us We saw a rice mill and the canals and rivers and how everything is transferred from the farms to the cities.


We saw big rice barges down to small row boats where the woman row them standing up with big, long oars. After lunch we went to a hammock cafe & we ...

... around 9ish and we still have nowhere to stay. After looking in the book we decide on a place called Hotel 31 and our new found American friend joins us. After a lot of haggling and hassle with the moto drivers (thanks to Miss Morgan armed with the phrasebook again, she loves that thing) we get a taxi from the station to Hotel 31 where we decide to stay. Here they have the usuals on the menu plus rat and snake - and under hotel rules in the room it lists ...

... vegetables or fruits. Some also were brewing coffee or making some kind of soup. We were offered both but kindly declined after seeing how the river water had splashed into boats and the cups looked wet.

You could tell what the boat was selling because they tied whatever it was to a long wooden stick and propped it up so people could see. Many people live on their boats. As we floated past one, a small boy, about 4 years old, pulled down his pants and was ...

On Sunday morning I went to SinhBalo Travel (which specializes in adventure travel) to begin my four day bicycle tour of the Mekong Delta (http://sinhbalo.com/cgi-bin/app.cgi). Our group consisted of seven of us (Steve and Grace from Tazmania, Chris and Michelle from Australia, Fiona from Dublin/London and Laurie from New York). Our guide was Tao. We road the bus for a couple hours watching traffic and city life turn into rural life... the highlight ...

... we were back on the bus to ride to the hotel 80 Km further into the Delta. First, we had to stop and rearrange passengers as some were going back to Saigon and others were getting picked up from other tours. In the end we haddropped to 27 passengers and didn't need the big bus, they say. Ibstead we got a bus that held 26 and half of their luggage. The bus wasmore of what Iwas used to , very creaky andlimited airconditioningand ...

... off in a small town for one day and took a boat up the little canals off the river. Next we went on to the main town in the region Can Tho where we motorbiked out to the nearby floating markets and then boated back amongst the floating stalls selling fruit and Pho.

... as far as Cambodia, unlike the rest of us who took small bags as we were returning to Saigon in a day or so. How on earth he expected each of them to ride a mountain bike whilst carrying 20 kilos I don't know but he DID expect it. Hence my question.... There were 5 men from Korea, and you could see on their faces that 3 of them were not comfortable about riding a bike either but after seeing Hi Hi throwing a tantrum (as he now had to organise a motor scooter or 2 for the non ...

... tour of the 'Cave Pagoda' which was built into the mountain and had a small cave entrance with dragons (the birthplace of the people) and idols within. It was a very neat temple with a lot of history. The tour then hopped back onto the bus and we headed off to a port on the Mekong where we boarded a boat that took us to see a catfish farm at a Mekong Delta family's floating home; a Cham Muslim village where weaving silk ...

... our bungalow that reminded me of the famous bridges from the Greek mountains or the old packhorse bridges from the UK. It was a nice ride checking out the nice house and gardens with their flowers and butterflies that seemed quite typical of what we were used to seeing outside the cities in the Mekong. There was a small accident close to our bungalow when a scooter hit a dog. The guy was a bit shaken and the dog just kept on yelping loudly and looked like he was in shock ...