I've also inserted a slideshow at the bottom. Let me know if it's good or bad on your side... it could be really slow loading.
Before leaving Vietnam I really wanted to get a sense of "country" or "river" life here. To see the locals in their setting versus being in the middle of the big touristy areas. So I decided to take a 3 day trip through the Mekong Delta to get to Cambodia. Don't get me wrong, the tour itself was completely touristy - it was a 3 day organized trip - haha, I'm not a true backpacker... yet!
Nevertheless, this was really a great way to see the countryside. I spent 3 days floating down the river canals seeing local markets in action and local life along the river. I visited a rice paper factory, a coconut candy place, and a fish farm, it was really really interesting. They do almost everything by hand here. It's impressive. Health Canada would have a hay day here with the lack of health regulations.
The best part was floating down the river at sunset. At this time of day the temperatures are much more managable and people are home after a long day of work in the steamy heat. Families are bathing in the river, women in their pajamas, men in their shorts and naked babies. They are also washing their clothes, pots and pans and going to the bathroom in the river. Yikes, you wouldn't catch me in that river if my life depended on it. It's pretty disgusting, but kids and adults a like have fun romping around in the water, the greeny grey murky water... getting clean? Not to sure about that one.
The kids were adorable and everyone yelled "hello" and waved as we passed them by. Lots of kids chased our boat down the river banks. And if you were the first to wave it was greeted with a huge smile and a friendly wave back.
While the Mekong is touted as laid back country-life I was surprised at how developed some of the river cities were, like Can Tho, where we spent our first night. When we approached the city by boat it looked like we were docking in casino-ville. Bright lights and music. Turns out it was a public holiday and everyone was celebrating - Women's Day! I dig it. Still, lots of buildings, some modern, international restaurants and a good amount of traffic for this small town. I guess that's what you get with tourism!
We got to our crappy hotel and my room is on the 5th floor with no elevator and no AC in the central part of the hotel and the air hasn't cooled down yet from the day, so it was still hot and muggy - Great. I arrived at the top of the stairs to two rooms with one big open room behind them. The big room had no exterior wall (like it was being demolished) and there were bats waking up for their night flight. Wicked cool. NOT.
To make matters worse, after climbing the five flights of stairs with my too-heavy backpack, no AC in the building and the air still hot and muggy, I quickly learned that there is no AC in my room, which I paid for. So, I headed back down the stairs, looking like I just got out of the shower, to sort it out.
A TOP TIP: I learned some good traveling lessons here - look at your receipts to ensure they clearly state what you paid for, keep them if you are able (sometimes they take them like tickets), and be firm!
When I booked the trip, I upgraded to a single rooms with AC and the fast boat (vs. slow boat) to Cambodia... (fyi - when I'm finished my trip I'm making a movie called "The Princess Backpacker"). Upon telling my tour guide the issue, his first reaction is "do you have your ticket?" "No." I said "I gave it to you. Do you still have it?" Conveniently, he does not. He told me that I can get AC for an extra $5. I told him I've already paid for it and if he could call the booking agency to confirm that would be great. Of course, his mobile phone is dead. What did you expect? Grrrrrrr. I know $5 isn't a lot but relatively speaking it is and I'm not paying it out of principle, so there :p Then he asked me for my boat ticket, which he gave to me all crumpled up when we left Saigon. When I uncrumpled the ticket I realized that it said SLOW boat and not FAST boat. Now I'm really not happy because there's no way I'm spending 8 hours on a boat that's louder than thunder, arriving in a new city, in a new country at night time. Not thrilled, but still amiable, I left to get some dinner.
While I strolled around on my own to find some dinner. I stopped at a small restaurant and I asked for a table for one outside. The server clearly did not want to give up the last outside table for 4 to a single person. Awesome, this made me feel like a real winner. A girl who was watching the scene unfold asked me to join her and her friends who were all traveling solo but met on the boat coming from Cambodia into Vietnam. Nice! This is what I love about traveling and backpackers! Emma, Sue from the UK and Hammy from South Korea. We had a great time giving each other tips on the countries we just coming from and going to. We had some Vietnamese barbeque along the river, it turned out to be a great night.
When I got back from dinner, my guide had called the booking agency and confirmed that I did infact pay for all of these upgrades. This is fantastic because there are so many scams in Vietnam, no such thing as customer service, and most guides would have been like, sorry it's not my problem, I really didn't think I was going to get my AC or Fast boat. But, lucky for me, my guide was great and sorted it all out! So check your receipts, keep them if you can and be firm! Also recognize and appreciate when you have a great guide because they aren't all that way.
The next afternoon a few of us, including some newcomers, boarded a boat that would take us to Chau Doc where we would spend our last night in Vietnam. The boat trip was great and relaxing and here I met Beth and Justin, a fantastic couple from Minnesota. I ended up traveling with them for the next week.
After a night in the crappy floating hotel on the river and a visit to the not-worth-seeing Cham Village, we boarded our last boat which would take us to Cambodia...
If you can't see the slide show click here or copy and paste: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mophotos/sets/72157623638025394/
More soon...
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment