Mekong Delta
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2002
1
144
156
Trip End
Ongoing
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Can Tho,
Vietnam
Saturday, January 17, 2009
After one night in Saigon we are off for an 'organised' tour to the Mekong Delta. As much as it goes against our principles and with so little time left in Vietnam we thought just do it. We opted for a tour which usually runs for 2 days and one night.
We booked with this particular travel company as there was the emphasis of 'more boat less bus' And as the Mekong Delta is mostly all water that was as good a reason as any to go with them........
We, just to be different are doing the tour as far as the end destination of Can Tho and then opted to stay 2 extra nights and then return with a different tour group but with the same company! Now if you are following all that then you are doing better than me as I have read what I have typed a million times now and still don't get it!! And I've done the tour....
So the morning of day one arrives and in order for you the reader, to get any sort of idea how this adventure panned out I have to revert to speak/type like our Vietnamese guide did from the moment we stepped on the bus....bare with me folks there will be translations in proper English, goodness knows you need them!!!
Errr x-queeze (excuse me) hello hello everly buddy and welcome to the Mekong Delta tour. I am your guide for next 2 days my name is Hi Hi spelt S A I, S A I. Got it? OK I working now for this company for 3 month OK? I finish university in Hanoi OK? I study tourism and hospitality right? OK And now I move to Saigon and work here OK? I sorry if my English not velly good OK.
Barge advertising its cargo on a bamboo pole
If you don't understand me, tell me OK? Now x-queeze (excuse me) me. Everlybudy (everybody) been given different itinerary for this tour from all different travel agents you book with right OK? So this is the one we work from right? (And he holds up his own piece of paper from his company). Then says....All the rest are bulls**t.Yes that's right he said the full word bulls**t. Oh My God alarms bells are now ringing.....what sort of guide is this to say that to a bus load of tourists? There's more......
He then proceeds to walk around the bus checking peoples tickets etc and giving us all an extra option of paying $8 for a 'sunset' cruise to our destination of Can Tho instead of the usual bus journey as described in 'his' itinerary.
Well, he eventually makes it to the back of the bus where Martin and I are seated. We told him that the tour we paid for 'included' the sunset cruise in our itinerary and we showed it to him. He then just laughed and said 'this company is bulls**t.'
Steam is coming out of my ears and blood is now boiling at this point but I stayed calm, just. He then calls the travel agent we booked through and the usual conversation ensued of them not understanding me and me trying to listen/understand them whilst bouncing up and down on a bumpy road with a broken mobile phone signal. In the end the phone cut dead and we thought 'forget it' and we would deal with the 'minor' discrepancy directly with the travel agent on our return to Saigon.
About an hour into our road trip the bus stopped to re-fuel and we noticed our guide sitting by himself at the side of the petrol station.
boat shop
staring vacantly into space. We took the opportunity of inviting ourselves to sit next to him.......I (Caroline) just could not resist and then I hit him with the truth......."X-queeze me Hi Hi" (oh no he's got me at it now!! ) "I have to 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) and I know."
His only reply was a solemn 'OK.' And no more bulls**t was mentioned but the story goes on..........
After about a 3 hour bumpy bus ride we arrive in Cai Be where we get herded through the other crowds of 'sheep' (tourists) and onto a wooden boat for a ride to the floating market. Well according to the Lonely Planet this market is best witnessed between 6 and 8am. It was now 11.30am and Hi Hi proceeded to explain that we would 'only see a little bit of market happening'....the one tomorrow we go to, much bigger. So what was the point of going to see something that is already finished??? Organised tours? we hate them....!!
We cruised by a few boats, mostly peoples floating homes and then finally arrived at An Binh (Vinh Long).
The sheep were herded off and we walked for a few minutes to our lunch destination.
Cold drinks salesman
It was a huge wooden house with many tables, chairs and relaxing hammocks all around. To greet us at the gate was a wire cage and on close inspection there inside was a huge python.After lunch our (professional, remember?) guide Hi Hi literally pulls the python out of the cage by its tail and lobs it into the air to catch it across his shoulders! Blood is simmering now.....then he proceeds to try and scare numerous people with it including me who by this time couldn't even bare to look at our idiot guide.
Everyone who wanted to could handle the snake....and they did it with much more grace and respect than our guide! Then when everyone had had enough of taking photos etc he slung it round his shoulders and with its head dragging on the dirt ground he took it back to its cage. I couldn't help but call out when I saw how bad he was treating the snake. But our guide who had been to university to sturdy 'tourism and hospitality' remember? Just couldn't give a damn.
During our lunch stop that was an opportunity for anyone if they so wished to borrow a mountain bike and go off exploring the small island. As it was rather hot, we were just happy to chill out in one of the many hammocks in a shady area.
At 2.30 Hi Hi announces "x-queeze me everly-body get a bike" By this time most of our group had congregated together and we all stood looking at him vacantly. This time and with a more demanding voice "err everly-body get a bike" Now my blood was still simmering since the python episode so I chirps up "what if you can't ride a bike" to which his answer was 'I don belief you'.
Covered from the sun
Blood is now nearly at boiling point......"I said what if you can't ride a bike?" I sensed some of the people in our group either couldn't or did not want to ride a bike at that time. And sure enough some people were coming forward saying they would rather walk and how far was it? Hi Hi just seemed to lose it now. He just kept saying 'velly far, velly far, you don't know way......this way, that way' An older couple in our group had huge backpacks with them as their trip was taking them up 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-riders!) they quietly choose a bike and got on.
Well, when we all set off on these dodgy looking mountain bikes (both mine and Martin's had no brakes whatsoever!) a couple of the Korean guys were wobbling all over the road.
Next thing I see one of the Korean guys front wheel completely buckle up and he goes crashing to the ground, head over heals whilst still holding onto his bike and hits the bridge of his nose on the handle bars! And where is Hi Hi? Way way ahead of us all.......bloomin' typical! 'University?....Tourism and Hospitality?' My arse!! 'Tour herding and hospital visiting' more like!
I immediately called out 'Hi Hi' and he cycles back by which time Martin and I are giving the poor Korean guy a load of tissues to mop up his bleeding nose.
Floating market
Hi Hi's face was a picture of 'sheer inconvenience' that this should happen. I wanted so much to say to him that was why I was asking 'what if you can't ride a bike?' But I bit my lip. There were far more important issues to deal with now.
Hi Hi did make an effort of cycling back to the restaurant to get more serviettes for the bloody nose and once Mr Korea was near enough over his shock and safely sitting on a scooter we all carried on just a short distance further down the road. Not 'velly far, velly far' as Hi Hi implied earlier.
Once safely on another boat we cruised the narrow canals of the Mekong and all looks very pleasant. Hi Hi attempts to give us a running commentary but most if not all of our 16 person group have lost faith in him to listen. We couldn't understand much of what he said and it was good for us that the noise from the boat engine drowned out what little you could understand!
Another stop about one hour later and we are herded into a sweet making, rice paper making, local rice wine with dead animals in the bottle making and pop corn making area. Most of us escaped from our group and guide to listen in on other tour guides whose English was much clearer! I can't even begin to type out what he was telling us. His English pronunciation got worse and worse as the day went on.
Herded back on the boat again we make the distance to land where we pick up another bus to take us to Can Tho, our final destination.......it can't come soon enough we thought!
Another hour or so and we have joined a long queue of cars and lorries at stand still.
Flower shop
Then Hi Hi stands up and announces "x-queeze me everybody right now is Tet which is New Year for Vietnam (Chinese new year).....traffic velly busy...everly buddy go home to their families for Tet...Vietnam new year right OK....maybe bus take another 4 hours to get to Can Tho.....I have good idea OK?.....right now we get off bus and take taxi right OK?....taxi quicker....."So we all herd off the bus and then he announces "we walk now err 10 minutes OK....to ferry.....not far...come, come. And off we trot like lambs to the slaughter going where? No one in our group was velly (Ahh that word) sure?
Fifteen minutes down the road and we have arrived at a ferry port. So this is what he meant.....There are a million and one scooters and riders plus the usual cars and lorries all waiting to cross the river via the 6 or more ferries that serve that vital life line. Hi Hi buys our group ticket and we get herded onto the next available ferry. The crossing takes about 10 minutes and once back on land we have now arrived in Can Tho. Hi Hi then hailed some taxi's and we all get packed off and taken to our hotel in the town.
It is just after 5pm now and we are well and truly over this. His parting words to all of us as he handed out the room keys was "x-queeze me everybody tomorrow we visit floating market right OK? Everly-buddy meet down here (pointing to the reception desk) at 6.30am OK?....you all wake up 6am and be here 6.30 OK? Nobody said yes, no or otherwise we just grabbed our room keys and ran away as fast as our legs could take us.
Fruit on sale
Ahhhhhhh Day 2
As we are staying an extra 2 night we have relocated to another hotel. We checked-out at 6.15 dumped our bags at the new place and then returned to our tour group for the meeting at 6.30am. Well 6.45 came and went, 7.00 can and went, 7.30 came and went. Then at precisely 7.50 (not that anyone was clock watching!!) our shepherd guide appears!!! No one bothered to ask him why we didn't leave at 6.30.....we're all over it!!
We took the short walk to the jetty where we got our boat. We boarded and 30 minutes later we tie up along side another large boat on the outskirts of Cai Rang floating market. A small rowing boat came to meet us and there we split into 2 groups and took it in turns to visit the centre of the activity. It was definitely worth seeing. Loads of boats large and small trading with other boats and local people right on the river. The photos speak for themselves.
Large bamboo poles sticking up in the air, had the items that that particular boat had for sale, tied to it. You would see carrots, melons, onions, pineapples and all manor of different things. There were floating coffee/tea shops, a rowing boat bakery and tiny small boats selling (or as our twit guide would pronounce it as 'shelling') general things you would find in a supermarket such as soap, washing powder, shampoo etc. We bought a small hand of bananas from one small boat. Haggling was different as you couldn't just walk away when they suggested a ridiculous price. The vendor settled on the proper price in the end and his little boy (about 4 years old) handed over the goods with a cheeky smile.
Market along the canal
It was a great experience to get right in the thick of it and witness first hand, life on the Mekong Delta. Back for a group lunch in Can Tho we then said our goodbyes to our friendly group as they had the misfortune to have Hi Hi take them back to Saigon!?! And myself and Martin were free to do whatever we liked for the next 2 days. Yipppeeeeee no more sheep herding!!!!!!
Thank goodness we haven't got him for the return journey. We hoping that the company still remembers that we will be coming back 2 days later!!!
Hi Hi did advise us that we should visit the hotel (where we stayed the first night) the evening before we are due to go back to Saigon to check with the returning guide what time they leave etc. We'll see what happens.........
As it was the run up to Tet Chinese New Year (26th Jan ish based on the moon cycles) the town had a nightly market until 10pm along the riverside. It was a great opportunity for locals to buy Jasmine plants which are blossoming around now ready for the new year festivities. There were stall after stall of flower vendors selling real bonsai trees, plants and some well dodgy looking fake flowers. There was an exciting vibe about the place with people dashing about like they do in England doing their last minute Christmas shopping.
Walking away out of the main city we found the local fun fair. It was nice to watch the parents having fun watching their young children laugh or in some cases scare themselves on the rides.
During the day we took strolls along some of the small canals where we found the 'real' local people and where we were charged the REAL local price for cups of tea/coffee and bottles of coke!!
On the evening of day 3 we took a trip back to our first hotel hoping to meet with the guide who was taking us back to Saigon. There to our surprise we met an excellent English speaking guide who told us what time to meet tomorrow, there was room on the bus, no problems whatsoever.
And on our last day he was true to his word. The group left exactly at 2pm and our guide couldn't have been more helpful or informative. Telling us clearly and in advance about the journey back to Saigon. No more throwing tantrums or 'x-queeze me, everly-buddy' nothing!
First we took a bus to the ferry port (where we had been before) walked onto the ferry then a bus was waiting for us at the other side and we took the long slow journey back to Saigon. We did stop half way for a break at some beautiful gardens.
It was a really pretty and tranquil place and definitely not somewhere you would expect to find on such a busy main road.
Once back in Saigon we checked back into our original hotel, had a much needed shower and then carefully thought about what we would be saying to our travel agent tomorrow...........
