Mekong, a trip to the south of the south

Here it is again …. that awful alarm clock sound. Sometimes I try to beat it by waking up just a bit earlier, but like most days, today I am a looser once again!

Our departure time of today is at 7.30 AM, which basically means that we have more than enough time to wake up properly and have a relaxing breakfast as well.

When everyone is ready, we are good to go for another stretch of road further southwards, this time towards the Mekong delta or the Nine Dragon river delta like the locals love to call it.

Like always, I fall asleep only to wake up again a few hours later when we have our first stop of the day at one of the local roadhouses. This one even has a small fruit market and as soon as we all return from the ladies / gents room, Albert awaits us with a small surprise.

He bought a durian on the market and just in the nick of time, I see that they are already cutting the fruit. It is said that it smells like hell and tastes like heaven, but when they open the thing, I don’t smell anything. Thinking that this is kind of weird, Albert explains to us, that the smell is coming later on when it is opened for a while. If we like, we can get a spoonful of it so that we can have a taste as well, but although it is kind of creamy, I don’t really know what it tastes like. It’s nothing like I have ever eaten before, that’s for sure, but I can’t say that it is good, but it isn’t bad either? It is just an inexplicable taste!

Still totally stunned, I watch Tania making all kinds of weird faces when she suddenly yells it is the same foul taste as the ice cream we had in Hoi An! My god, it’s the only in Vietnam taste … she single handed solved the riddle!

Tania is looking for something to get the taste out of her mouth and as soon as we look at all the strange things in front of us, we end up buying a few water apples, which unlike the durian tastes amazingly good.

From here it is once again a 2 hours drive towards the Mekong delta, where we are going to have another boat ride. It has been quite a while now since we last had one and I must say that I am really looking forward to it.

Upon our arrival, lots of boats are awaiting us and as soon as everyone is back together again, we can board our vessel for the next couple of hours or so.

It is nice to be on the water again and this coming from me means a lot since I am not really a boat person. It is just amazing to see the daily life here in front of us. They all one way or another depend on this important stream.

We are boating for about half an hour when we suddenly make a short stop at a local factory which produces all kinds of food products, going from rice paper to sweets, to even alcoholic beverages like rice wine and snake wine. The latter is just very plain if I might add and not really worthwhile to have a second glass. I just don’t understand why Asians think it is so good … they obviously never have been to Belgium and tried our delicious liquids!

Back on our boat again, it is further down the river for another hour or so only to stop again to have lunch near the river.

I am a bit surprised to see such a nice place here, hidden between a small green forest and besides a cute dog that looks a bit like a vampire, don’t ask me why, it does to me, they have a python as well. This animal is locked up in a cage and has been fed a duck just a couple of days ago. Maybe that’s the reason why it doesn’t move at all, which all things considered isn’t  such a bad thing!

Like usual, we are having a six or seven course lunch, but this time around we have a speciality of the region, elephant fish! In front of our eyes, the waitress conjures a fresh spring roll with a bit of the fish inside. It tastes just so yummy that I even have seconds and thirds!

When everyone is ready again to leave, we jump into our ride again and off we go.

The first part of our trip we had seemingly good weather with a bit of sunshine once in a while but now it is overcast. Such a pity really but lucky enough it is still warm, that makes up for a lot.

About half an hour later we get the thing we least expected … rain! A few of us were seated in the back of the boat and we all hurried inside to hide from it. This shouldn’t be such a bad thing, but with bad weather comes wild water as well and this time around the only thing I wish for is to get out of this bloody vessel and on to saver places and most of all … land if it is possible!!!!

It looks like I am not the only person thinking this and as soon as our captain gets a chance, he boats back to the shores of the river and surprisingly enough our bus is waiting there for us as well. Talking about good timing!

Since it doesn’t look if there is going to be any change in the weather, we drive back towards our hotel for tonight which is situated in Can Tho. This place isn’t all to big but it is mainly known for its huge bridge which collapsed in 2007, resulting into the death of more than 50 people and hundreds injured, but nowadays has a very modern look.

As soon as we get the keys to our room, we hurry to it only to notice that we have some kind of suite, no way this is just an ordinary room. Even the bath room is quite amazing to say the least. It seems that our last night here in Vietnam is going to be one of luxury … what a nice ending of this trip!
Unlike the last couple of weeks, we seem to have to wait quite a long time for our luggage to come up, but as we open our door to have a look, we notice our bags in front it. It looks like they forget to let us know, that’s all! As soon as we dragged our bags inside, we had a quick shower and a change of clothes and then it is back into the city to have a look around.

Tonight we have our farewell dinner, but that’s still a couple of hours away, so we still have lots of time to explore the city just like the rest of our group who we come across more than once.

Firstly we have a look at the boulevard, which is also called the “boulevard of love” because of the more than many couples who come here when it’s dark, but if you ask me, there is not so much “love” to detect here in contrast to the intrusive vendors we meet all through the length of it.

As we walk further down the city, we encounter a covered market which has lots of souvenirs for sale and as we step out of it again, we meet up with a few members of our group who mention to us that there is a big outdoor market a little further down the road. According to them it’s really worth a visit, so the both of us walk a little further to have a look and see what all the fuzz is about.

The road is still wet because of the recent rain and while we try to dodge as many puddles as we possible can, we still get wet in the process, but that doesn’t matter, it’s still fun.

After a few minutes we notice the market and like always they have more than enough fruits, veggies, meats and seafood for sale. Most of the stuff they are selling we have seen before, except for the poor bullfrogs lying in a big bowl, that’s a newbie and they just look so cute. I can hardly imagine they become someones dish this evening, but that’s life I suppose.

It is still a bit early to go back to the hotel, so instead Tania wants to give the small donut shop a try. She’s still feeling a bit hungry and needs something sweet to stop the craving and as we enter the place, it looks more like a bakery than a regular donut shop.  They also sell lots of special teas and while Tania goes for a bubble tea with strawberry flavor, I myself stick to a normal cup of tea.

The sweets Tania had chosen weren’t all that bad either, but I was more than stuffed after a few and I still needed to leave some space for our dinner this evening, which was in just a few hours.

We slowly walked back, passing another market with lots of clothes, shoes and sunglasses. After a bit of searching, Tania found one pair to her liking, but sadly enough it was also time to go back to the hotel again because we had to make ourselves ready for dinner.

At 7 PM we all gathered at the lobby and as soon as everyone is down, we commence our evening walk towards the restaurant for our last communal dinner.

Before we have our dinner, Albert first calls upon our three Vietnamese friends to say thanks to them in a proper way and afterwards Hanneke does the same and thanks our tour rep Albert for all the things he has done these last few weeks. He is just an excellent guide and tour rep who is constantly in a good mood, helping everyone who needed his help and making sure we all got a wonderful trip which we will never ever forget.

It is strange to see this tall Dutch guy speechless for once and this because of a few simple words a tiny woman has to say. It is really shocking to see him blown away by words and almost in tears … gosh it almost makes us cry as well, we are just a bunch of softies!

After a few thank you words from Albert and a discount promise that if he ever is able to get something started in the Philippines, we can come over, we can commence to have dinner and for the last time we enjoy the best of what this country has to offer.

It is still a nice evening and after walking back towards the hotel, we all decide to have one last drink at the rooftop bar. As soon as we arrive, it seems to be an one drink only as the waiter gently brakes it to us he is closing the joint. To us this is very strange since it isn’t even 10 PM yet, but I guess the poor fellow is tired, so we give him a break!

Once back at our room, we still need to pack our luggage and this for the very last time here in this country. It feels so strange after doing the same thing for about 3 weeks now and in a way I feel sad that this trip is almost over, but it has been a nice one with lots of fun memories and that’s the most important thing!