Oct 31, 2010 - The Mekong Delta !

Tuesday saw us head out of the city to the provincial town of Vinh Long located in the centre of the Mekong Delta. The trip proved to be a little more adventurous than planned as there was no bus available from Siagon's Cholon bus station as indicated in our guidebook. Fortunately, within minutes we were on a slow bus to the correct Mien Tay station where we were swamped by screaming bus company employees trying to get us into their mini-buses. Three hours later, we arrived in Vinh Long where our bus dropped us about 5km from the centre of...

Oct 14, 2009 - Life on the River

We're up at 6.15, have breakfast of bread, coffee and juice and we're off to the riverside at 7.15 to get our motor boat for today. We cruise along the edge of the huge river looking at the life it sustains. People wash their clothes or themselves, carry small and large loads around and travel to work or the markets. There are some huge ships full of sand dredged from the river bed for use in construction, which lie very low in the water. These are not like any boats I've seen before with huge wide, flattish hulls. Nothing is like anything...

Mar 16, 2009 - Mekong Delta Adventure

Since Jamie and I only had 2 days to do the Mekong Delta, we wanted to do it right and not with a big tour consisting of over 25 like we did during the tunnels. There is a variety of travel agencies selling trips to the Mekong Delta at a decent price, but you do get what you pay for here. We wanted to do 2 days on the Delta overnight at a homestay in a village. The best option we found was through Fantastic Tours. For 2 days and 1 night we got to explore the Mekong Delta by boat and stay over night at a village on one of the islands in the...

Jan 22, 2009 - Vinh Long

Hello les amis, Vinh Long, cite toujours situe en bordure du Mekong. Le marche est fantastique, nous mangeons des noodles soups (avec trip et foie pour moi) delicieuses, vraiment pas cher (80 cents d'euros). La ville, comme tout le pays du reste est en ebullition, car les Vietnamiens se preparent au Nouvel an. Les rues abondent de marchands de fleurs, de bonzais et de fruits aux couleurs eclatantes. Nous faisons un tour en bateau, rencontrons un couple de British avec qui nous sympatisons, buvons quelques bieres (culture Anglaise et...

Oct 17, 2007 - Mekong Delta - October 17-18, 2007

Mekong Delta is fantastic and probably has been the best part of the tour. Before we got to the Delta we stopped at the Cao Dai Great Temple. A civil servant and mystic named Ngo Van Chieu settled near Tay Ninh with 300 followers and founded Cao Dai "High Palace", which is a unique belief that elaborates on the traditional Vietnamese blend of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and ancestor worship with elements of Christianity and other religions. This temple is an architectural fusion of East and West and it is long and lofty as a cathedral...