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Vinh long

Destinations > Asia > Vietnam > Vinh long > Travel Blog: Jamie and Carolines 10 mo ... > Vinh long

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Jamie and Carolines 10 month trip round the world

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Vinh long

Vinh long, Vietnam

Friday, Oct 26, 2007 09:21

Entry 30 of 105 | show all | print this entry

Vinh Long
We arrived in Vinh long and were desperate to do a traditional Homestay (when you chill out with locals in their house and help out etc for a night) being a little too late we thought we'd wait till the morning.

we decided to take a market boat to Am Bien Island and find a homestay on our own. Although a lot cooler than the ferry we were heavily ripped off and ended costing more than the ferry trip 5 times over. Hard to haggle when no one speaks english.

We arrived on the island and found a few "homestays". These were definately not what we had expected. THey turned out to be nothing more than very expensive backpacking hostels with pool tables, bikes and fishing etc!! We hired some bikes and decided to enjoy ourselves anyway. The island is 100% fruit orchards. The locals all seemed to be very chilled and welcoming. We managed to avoid seeing another tourists for the rest of the day. We popped in on a primary school so caroline could see how things were done in Vietnam. We did cause a little bit of a riot but surprisingly all the kids in the classes didn't make a noise and stood up when we entered.

We chilled in the evening and tried to enjoy our huge meal (table service etc).

Can Tho

We caught the ferry back to Vinh Long and then the public bus to Can Tho. Managed to only get ripped off a little bit so were very chuffed with ourselves. We wanted to take a trip to the Floating markets etc. On arrival we were once again hit by the local touts. In a effort to escape them we jumped on the ferry to the town where we met what we though was a very nice man. We explained about the touts and told us the "real costs" we should pay. After pointing out a couple of bikes for us to use he proceeded to follow us to the town and got us dropped at his tour company! What mugs we had been. The floating markets are only really happening in the morning and due to it being 12pm and raining (yet again) we decided not to do the tour and have lunch instead and then head to Rich Gia to get the boat to Phu Quoc. Not a easy as we thought. After we walked away our man sent his heavy set hench woman to harrass us. Caroline siezed this as an opportunity to practise her haggling skills. After about 30 mins of her annoying us him following us and us getting hungry we blew her off. We thought this would be the end but alas no. Our once nice helper was now following us on his motorbike and calling us liars and saying we should leave Can Tho as there was nothing thewre for us. Me very angry and caroline more chilled we headed for an excellent lunch with our touts waiting for us outside the restaurant. I don't think they had anything better to do!

Anyway we managed to get to the bus station and agreed that Can Tho really didn't have anything for us!!!

After more haggling we got a bus to Rich Gia and made sure the driver knew we didn't want to go to Rich Soi next door. After about 2 hours crammed in the bus with some odd vietnames man stroking my leg.... we arrived at a petrol station and told to get out. Not being Rich Gia we were determined to stay on. We later realised that this petrol station was actually the bus station as well!!! Feeling thoroughly ripped off again we made our way into town to get our ferry tickets to Phu Quoc. (slightly ripped off on these tickets as well but not badly)

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Table of Contents

1 - 20 | 21 - 40 | 41 - 60 | 61 - 80 | 81 - 100 | 101 - 105

\|	show all entries (show entry-less map pins)

21.	Halong bay - Halong Bay, Vietnam Oct 07, 2007

22.	Nimh Binh - Nimh Binh, Vietnam Oct 10, 2007

23.	Hue - Hue, Vietnam Oct 12, 2007

24.	Photos - Hue, Vietnam Oct 12, 2007 ( 31 )

25.	Hoi An - Hoi An, Vietnam Oct 15, 2007

26.	Nha Trang - Nha Trang, Vietnam Oct 17, 2007

27.	Whoops in Mui Ne - Mui Ne, Vietnam Oct 18, 2007

28.	Saigon - Saigon, Vietnam Oct 21, 2007

29.	My tho - My Tho, Vietnam Oct 24, 2007

30.	Vinh long - Vinh long, Vietnam Oct 26, 2007

31.	Phu Quoc - Phu Quoc, Vietnam Oct 27, 2007

32.	Chau Doc - Chau Doc, Vietnam Oct 30, 2007 ( 26 )

33.	Kampot - Kampot, Cambodia Oct 31, 2007

34.	Sihanoukville - Sihanoukville, Cambodia Nov 02, 2007

35.	Kep - Kep, Cambodia Nov 06, 2007

36.	Phnom penh - Phnom Penh, Cambodia Nov 08, 2007

37.	Siem Reap - Siem Reap, Cambodia Nov 10, 2007

38.	Battambang - Battambang, Cambodia Nov 12, 2007

39.	Ko Chang - Koh chang, Thailand Nov 13, 2007

40.	Koh Phangan - Koh Phangan, Thailand Nov 21, 2007

\|	show all entries (show entry-less map pins)

1 - 20 | 21 - 40 | 41 - 60 | 61 - 80 | 81 - 100 | 101 - 105

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