Mekong Delta

19/12/10 We spent four days exploring the Mekong Delta area.  From Saigon we headed west to a home stay in a village just outside of Can Tho city, then North to another home stay on an island near Vinh Long, South East to Tra Vinh, and then North to Ben Tre, before heading back to Saigon.

Hung's Home Stay, near Can Tho. We stayed in a little thatch bungalow right on the water. Mmm mosquito :)

Exploring Hung's village in the morning rush hour.  Going to school in traditional Ao Dai.

Watermelon farm.

Pink Pineapple! Every girl's dream accessory. (This is how they grow).

Set off for the market a bit late, so took breakfast on the boat :)

Under the monkey bridge and past the fishing net...

...continue straight ahead at stilt houses.

 Arriving into Cai Rang floating market.

The sticks in the background show what produce each boat has to sell.

Cai Rang is a whole sale market, so large boats were travelling from surrounding villages to buy and sell.  Lots of watermelons and cabbages.

We bought pineapple cut like wishmeams :)

 Heading home, fully loaded.

On the way to Cai Be market from An Binh island (this is a river, not the sea).

Rice Barge!

It was the 15th day in the lunar calendar which meant it was full moon and we saw lot's of special offerings laid out.  This offering was made for the van, to bring it good luck.  They put the hazard lights on and opened the doors to make it look excited! Woop :)

Everyone told us there was no way from Tra Vinh to Ben Tre, except for mega bucks by taxi.  We took bikes then a car ferry for free and luckily found a local bus on the other side!  No worries.  The motor bike journey was amazing, don't think many people travel through those fields and farms.

 Ben Tre turned out to be sleepy sleepy.