The Nam

Welcome to Viet Nam! OK, we origonally thoughgt we'd take the easy and quick route from Phom Phen(P.P.) to H.C.M.C. aka: Saigon but, being the adventurous lot that we are, we said, "NOOOOOO! We shall not secum to the qucik and easy, noooo!"

001-rickity boat

So, we hopped a boat from Phom Phen dowbn the Mekong into the Mekong Delta in search of 'Charlie'. SMACK! OUCH! Damn it Rachel! OK, so that was a loooong time ago. We all know Charlie don't surf (Don't you hit me again Rachel) so it must be safe by now to cruise the Mekong Delta. We cruised on a rickey(again) boat to the border then up to the little town of Chau Doc where we spent the night. The next day, before heading on to Saigon we explored the local fishing villages and fish farms. Check out some of the pics and tell me that wasn't the Bayou's in the early 1900's. Reminded me of home.

002-Border and no mans land

We had heard back in Bangkok from more than 2 people who had been in these regions before us that Cambodia and Vietnam in their words, "sucked". I'm not sure where they went. Maybe they road the Scam Bus all the way to Uncle Ho's grave but they did not see the places we saw.

If we thought the Cambodians were friendly, we did not know what friendly ment. The Vietmanese people top them by miles. Both the Cambodians and Vietmanese speak much better and more fluent Engleesh than the Thai's and seem far more interested in speaking English while teaching us their language. Everyday I am more impressed with this country despite it's past history. Both Viet Nam and Cambodia have surpassed Thailand in my 'Top Three' favprite places in he world. I find I now have to add a 4th favprite place to make room for them both. Not just me. Rachel has named them both in her top 2 favorites with Viet Nam barely easing the 1st place spot ahead of Cambodia by a hair. We can't wait to explore this country more and regret the fact that we have so little time to spend here before we move on.

003-other vessels

We're off to H.C.M.C./ Saigon tomorrow and we can't wait....

Delta Mooners

004-more boats

005-bath day

01 sailing to Chau

02-the view along the mekong

03-tourist taxi

04-old houses

05-locals at work

06-local greetings

07-working hard

08-another young one

09-Incense factory

15-Master of all I survey!

16-loading rice

17-Chau Doc city

18-worship the Catfish!

19-Leftovers

20-fish market

21-local architecture

22-fish farm

23-Highs and lows

24-look familiar

25-old timers