Into the Nam

  Chau Doc, Vietnam
Friday, January 26, 2007

Got the boat to Chau doc in Vietnam. It was a complete rust bucket but there were very few of us on it so at least we weren't crammed in.Right aligned photo tag:
  The boat trip took us along the Mekong for the first part of it. It was nice but the river is very wide on the Cambodian side so we couldn't take in much scenery on the riverbank. After a few hours we arrived to the border and were herded of the boat and into a little restaurant accompanied by half the village. Our Vietnamese representative took half the day to sort out our passports....enough time to make sure we'd all been forced to eat something, exchange money, buy stuff from the kids etc! We changed boats, this time not a rust bucket....more like a tub! Left aligned photo tag:

The journey this time was much more interesting, loads of floating houses, fishermen, paddy fields, exactly as we'd imagined Vietnam. Right aligned photo tag:
There was so much action on the river it was like a moving village.Right aligned photo tag:
  We arrived to Chau Doc that evening and got a place to stay, then had a stroll around the town. It was a nice spot, with a lively promenade on the riverfront, everyone was saying hello to us even little kids in their buggys! Left aligned photo tag:

There was a high rat contingent though, maybe because of all the fruit and veg stalls, not something we wanted to think too hard about. We went out for a few drinks that evening with guy we'd met on the boat but the town was definitely lacking a night life....so it didn't turn into anything crazy. Next day we booked our bus to Ho Chi Minh City ( Saigon) but not before we discovered a great legacy left by the French....Laughing Cow cheese and baguettes....thank god.. a decent breakfast, although they do add coriander, cucumber and some kind of fishy salt!!