Mekong Delta...Day 2
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2011
1
9
76
Trip End
Mar 13, 2012
Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Mils and Kayla didn't get their wake up call, so while we were all waiting on the coach they were nowhere to be seen, Edwina made a mad dash to check on them to find them still in bed...wide awake and had been for an hour they just didn't look at a clock as they were waiting for the call! Bless...they ran faster than light and were on the coach within 5 minutes and off we went!
We drove for only 15 minutes and then took a 5 minute stroll to the water where a boat took us to the floating markets, we were all imagining the type of markets we've visited on land, but on water! This wasn't the cash, we visited the locals Market which was fascinating. All the boats floated past one another, selling their wares. Fruits and vegetables were mainly the stock and what they each had was indicated by the tall sticks standing up at the end of the boat, one of each item was stuck on it, be it a lettuce or a strawberry and this told the buyer what was available. On from the market we visited a fruit orchard where loads of different fruits are grown. Trees with pineapples, limes, bananas, water apples, jack fruits, oranges, mangoes, dragon fruit, papaya and quince were on a massive plot of land. Strolling through it was the first time that the sun felt hot enough to burn as it was such a clear day. We stopped here for green tea and fruit, the fruit was probably the best I've ever eaten especially the papaya and mango, unfortunately there were none for sale or I think we all would have been buying in bulk!
We returned to the boat and sailed for about another hour to where we docked for lunch, a lovely open sided restaurant where we all have crispy noodles with chicken and fruit juices, good preparation for a trip back, we made a small stop in Vinh Long where completely by coincidence we bumped into 6 of the VPV workers/volunteers, one of the employees, Wendy comes from this town and had brought the others back with her to visit and stay for the weekend! With just half an hour here we grabbed a drink with them quickly then got back on the coach for the final leg.
We reached district one at about 6pm, and before we headed back decided to get some dinner, an Italian feast later and we were ready to return back to peace house....as strange as it sounds I actually quite missed it and after a couple of Skype conversations I went to bed and had the best nights sleep I've had since arriving here!
Fantastic weekend, feel so lucky to have met such a great bunch of people right at the beginning, has really given me a brilliant start and made me even more excited about the rest of my trip! Now, where shall we go next weekend??
xx
