The Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Since I went into Vietnam from Cambodia by boat, it was easy to stop for a few days and explore the river tributaries before going to Saigon. I got a 3 day 2 night tour which took me to Chau Doc, then a homestay on one of the tributaries near Can Tho, and then off to Saigon. 

We took a fast boat from the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, to the small border town of Vietnam, Chau Doc. The fast boat was nice because I got to leave at 1pm instead of 8am, and it didn't even leave until after 1pm because it was delayed. I went across the street and got some Mexican food and drank some beers. The boat guys told me they'd come and get me when they were ready. The Mexican food was surprisingly good for Vietnam, and I met another American who was working in a small town outside of the city. He was telling me how he wakes up with the locals now at 6am every morning...whew too early.

When the boat finally got moving it ended up being just me and an Australian couple. We talked for a while, but boy that fast boat was loud. I ended up putting my earphones in to muffle the noise most of the time, until later on when I went out onto the bow of the boat to relax with the cool wind in my face.

I also spent this time to sew my eyeflaps (necessary in hostel dorms) and my backpack (the water bottle holder net was coming off the elastic!). The Australian couple gave me a sewing kit and I got to it. They didn't even want it back afterwards, and it has been quite useful since then...mostly for sewing some of my travel shorts which are apparently not made very well.

This was my first border crossing by boat, so I was excited to see what would go wrong, but nothing too exciting happened. We first stopped at a sketchy dock and walked up a plank that seemed like it would fall apart at any moment. There we stamped out of Cambodia. Then we went across the border to the Vietnam building and we didn't even get off the boat! They collected our passports and just gave them to some dude at the building and then gave them back 5 minutes later, stamped and everything. Not even a look at me or my face. I kind of wanted to ask them about my visa, since I maybe wanted to come back into Vietnam later, but there was no use. My visa was single entry and expired April 22nd, which was before I was tentatively planning to return to Vietnam.

We finally arrived in Chau Doc, and the Australians went on their way and I was left stranded at the dock. This is where I thought, where the fuck does my tour go now? I'll take this time to explain how tours work in some of these countries. They buy a bunch of things along the way, and never tell you about any of it. If you ask them, they won't really give you the details, and you're always left in the dark. Back in Cambodia, they picked me up from my hostel and took me to the boat people, and the boat people seemed to know what to do when I gave them my tour ticket, but the boat drivers had no idea and just left me at the dock literally as soon as I stepped off the boat.

I looked around and didn't see anyone who looked like they were looking for someone, so I showed a few people who looked more official my tour ticket and they seemed clueless. I walked up the plank to the street and found a few of people on motobikes yelling at me "motobike? motobike?" I showed one of them my ticket and the guy seemed to know where I should go but he wanted to charge me 20,000 dong. Oh shit I'm in a new country with new currency. In Cambodia they were using the US dollar, that got me spoiled haha. I pulled out my currency conversion on my phone and discovered that was only a dollar. I looked around to see if there was anyone else there, but there was nothing, so I put the helmet on, hopped on the back of his bike, and we were off. I love motobikes, they are so much fun.

After zipping through the town for a few minutes we arrived at a closed establishment that was the same company that I booked the tour with. I walked up to it and knocked, but there was no one in there. The motobike driver wanted me to pay him, so I gave him a dollar and he was satisfied. I went next door to try and see if they knew when the tour office was going to open again, but the lady there didn't know english and did the usual "no, no" while shaking her hand. I did some obvious gestures but she was useless.

This is when I started to worry after looking at the sky to see dusk rolling in. I pulled out my phone and dialed the number to the tour office I found on Google Maps, but as I was doing that another lady on a motobike rolled up and asked if I was Dylan. Saved! She said she was looking for me at the dock...maybe she got there late or something. I saw the other motobike driver down the street, and she yelled something to him that didn't sound too nice. She pulled over a cycle rickshaw so I could ride that around the corner to the other tour office I was supposed to be. As I rolled away I also yelled at the motobike driver and gave him the bird. No use doing anything more. The other tour office was also a hotel, so I got a nice cozy room for the night.

After checking in I headed out to the nearby market to grab some food. I pointed out a few things at random street markets I found, and ate some weird sandwich. Everything was recognizable except the meat.

Still not sure what that was, because no one around spoke English. I also saw some dried squid at one stand. It did not look appetizing.

The next morning there was a tour, but the only thing they told me was to get up at 7am or so in time for breakfast. After I got up they said I needed to be checked out and put my bags in the pile. We went out on the river to see a few things, but nothing spectacular. A little village that gets flooded every year, so all the houses are on stilts. A fish farm. I met some nice travelers on the tour who had been traveling farther north in Vietnam as well.

After the morning tour we were led to a van, and I asked when we go back to get our stuff. No need, because apparently they had taken the pile and put it in the van. I did not know this, I feel like I would've packed a little differently if I did. Anyway, no worries I got in the van with everyone else to go to our next destination farther south in the mekong delta, Can Tho. I pulled out my uke so I could start playing a few songs for the people on the minibus, but I decided it needed some tuning. This is when I started looking for my iPhone...which was not where I put it...and not anywhere in my backpack. Long story short it was not there anymore. My only idea is that someone stole it from my backpack when it was in the pile of bags. Nothing was ruffled, but I was also using it just minutes before we left, so someone might have seen me put it back in my backpack and known where to look.

<Side note geek rant about find my iPhone>

I tried to use find my iPhone in the bus by finding someone who had internet and going to the website, but apparently it only works on computers. It doesn't even work on mobile safari on other iPhones!!! wtf apple. The only way to use it on other iOS devices is to download the find my iphone app beforehand...and the app store wasn't working then. wtf apple. I finally got it to work by using someone else's non iOS phone to do a mobile hotspot and then use my iPad on wifi with the app (since I got the app beforehand, but no one else would do that). Nothing ever came up, they probably wiped it and sold it before ever connecting to the internet.

Also, apparently iCloud only saves the last 30 days of photos, so I lost all my iPhone photos from more than 30 days ago to the beginning of my trip since I had no computer to load them onto (not many but still). I thought iCloud was taking care of me. No. It wasn't. wtf apple.

</end side note>

So I tuned my uke by ear and played some songs anyway, always fun. In the next town I said goodbye to the rest of the travelers and rode on a motobike to my homestay. I thought a homestay would be like someone's house with an extra bedroom or something where I'd try to communicate with the local Vietnamese. It was a little different than that. I showed up and it looked more like a little resort, with cabins and hammocks and everything. It was still on a little path right next to a tributary though, and it didn't look too out of place.

There was only one room actually in the house, and they ended up putting me in it. The room didn't really have a wall either, so it was essentially outside. It had a wooden decorative grate thing...hard to explain. Anyway, I thought this would be a great time to maybe use the mosquito net I brought with me that I hadn't ever used yet. I pulled it out of my backpack and just before setting it up I realized they already had one folded up on the side of the bed anyway. Cool. I put my mosquito net back into my backpack. (I have since sent my mosquito net home since I'm in China at the time of this writing and never used my mosquito net)

It was early afternoon, so I grabbed a bike they have at the homestay for free and started riding down the path. There's just one path next to a tributary and many houses and a few shops going down it. It doesn't really feel like a town, it has it's own atmosphere, nothing like anything I'd seen before. Going down the path I stopped to hang out with many locals I saw, especially the kids. They're so happy all the time and wave at you and say hello. 

A few kids were playing with this feathery thing with their hands and hitting it up in the air to each other. I joined in. One of the kids in the pic is holding what I found out is called a shuttlecock.

More down the road the path became more of a nature path, and I passed by a weird looking structure over the river. It was just a series of logs put together over the river, and it seemed like a bridge, but looked a little dangerous. I later discovered tourists and tour groups call this a monkey bridge, since you look like a monkey if you fall and try to grab on I think. Anyway, I discovered an authentic monkey bridge and saw a few people cross it as well.

I decided to cross myself, and on the way over some kids got into the river and started swimming in it. I couldn't resist not following suit on that hot day, so I stripped down to my boxers and slowly got in on the other side. Dirty, you say? Hell yeah it was. The bottom felt mushy and gross, so I treaded water the whole time. I grabbed onto a log the kids were using before that made me slightly more buoyant, but I didn't stay in for too long. 

After getting out I crossed the bridge again to continue my bike ride. Before I put my clothes back on, some guy was walking by me so I smiled and said hello or whatever it was in Vietnamese (I don't remember), and he did the same. My boxers were obviously wet so maybe you could see a little more outline than normal, and as he passed by he gave my dick a little grab with a smirk on his face. Crazy mekong locals. I turned around and yelled at him, but he didn't turn back and there was no point in trying anything. No sexual harassment in Vietnam.

Anyway I continued to ride around until the path became unridable, and then headed back since the sun was setting. On the way back I found more kids playing badminton this time! I joined in for a little while, but then the birdie broke. I realized it was meticulously made of wood and feathers coming out, and realized I may have helped break it a little, since with the plastic ones it doesn't really matter if you hit it on the wrong side a few times. Oops.

I made it back to the homestay just in time for a shower and dinner, which was quite delicious. Met many other travelers and we ate and drank rice wine shots and beers.

The next day we had an early morning tour through the mekong delta where we saw a floating market, a rice factory, a rice noodle factory, and a tourist trap monkey bridge. The tourist monkey bridge was much more sturdy and well built than the one I traversed, as well only being over a pond. So it really was built for the sole purpose of tourism. I'm glad I was able to see a real one. After the tour we got on another minibus and headed to Saigon! Now I was back in the big city.