Day 10 Thursday 2nd April, A tour of the Mekong Delta

We had a wonderful day experiencing the Mekong Delta and all it had to offer. We had another group of five from a different Trip-a-Deal group join our group of ten who had nominated to go on this excursion. Our wonderful guide Tiny was taking us for this experience. We travelled for close to two hours in a comfortable coach before arriving at our first destination. A large boat was there to meet us and took us to our first stop an island in the river. On this cruise we saw 2 large modern bridges, spanning 3kms across the Mekong. The first bridge was started in 2007 and took seven years to build, the second was built last year and took one year! On this small island we were shown the fish farms, and produce, coconuts and fruit all grown in this area. Dragon fruit, jack fruit, mangoes, pineapples, papaya, banana, cumquats etc. etc. were all grown here.  Tiny explained that the soil here was very fertile. We were offered refreshments of fruit and green tea, while a group of locals sung traditional songs and played on traditional instruments. It was a lovely way to start our tour. We were then taken to the other side of the island, where we divided into groups of 4, ready to be taken on a small rowboat to another stop. Two women rowed our boat, and it was a relaxing and pleasant experience. We saw many water coconuts growing on the nearby banks. After disembarking here, we walked to another area where we could experience having a large snake around your neck. Both Rob and I did this but did feel a bit sorry for the poor snake. We then went into another area where we had honey and nut tea along with different types of wafers and nut snacks. From here, we hopped onto another boat and were taken to an establishment that made candy lollies made from coconut. We were given quite a few various favours to try and we all agreed that they were delicious. We then could partake in snake wine…which we did and also banana seed wine. We did some more walking, passing more small farms and properties before being picked up by a tuk-tuk. The tuk-tuks took us to a beautiful outdoor restaurant for a delicious lunch. This place also bred crocodiles for the skins and meat, as well as catfish, toads, snakes etc. From here we were put onto another small boat, which would eventually take us back to the very first boat we arrived on! (I really have no idea how all this happened.) Once on our big boat, we were given a refreshing coconut drink. I enjoyed mine but Rob wasn’t so keen. We were back at the hotel by about 4pm after a most interesting and enjoyable day.

















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