Mekong Delta: Vinh Long and Chau Doc, Vietnam

The southern tip of Veitnam, southwest of Saigon, is an area known as the Mekong Delta. The countryside of Vietnam here is alive as it is in no other place. This is where the Mekong River finds its way to the sea carving out a throng of islands and little villages and intersting places.

Vinh Long is a nice place to spend a couple of days. The day we arrived we did a boat tour during which a low branch barred our progess and created some excitment and interest in figuring out exactly how to resolve the situation (lifting the branch using leverage over the roof of the boat was the way to go). However, the real attraction of Vinh Long is to get out of the town part and go to the island just off the coast for a homestay. I had previously done one of these in Sapa nearly a month before but this one was different. Our group of seven took up the entire homestay and the people running this one were much warmer. It was truly a family going about their daily business with the extra responsibilities of tending to our needs. We rented bikes and motorbikes (I had a bike) and spent most of the day riding and getting lost. The way it worked out, I ended up riding with the only person in the group who spoke almost no English so during our brakes from riding in conversation that consisted mostly of pointing in the direction and very simple English (point forward and ask "Yes?" then point backward and ask "Yes?" means "Do you want to continue going forward or would you prefer to turn around and go back?") It worked well enough and I had a good time and I found out later, through a translator, that so did my partner.

After the night at the homestay the group of seven returned to the main part of Vinh Long where we parted ways. The six of them need to get back to Ho Chi Minh City to catch a flight back to China and I needed to figure out how to get to Chau Doc so that I could make my way into Cambodia. After our good-byes I, once again, ventured off on my own.

Chau Doc is not much of place though it is a major tourist point because it serves as an in-between for travelers between Cambodia and Vietnam. The main attraction, the sacred Sam Mountain, is 5km (3.4 miles) outside the city center and why it is sacred I have no idea. The views are supposedly excellent but I could see anything not because of the weather but because the at the peak the edges of the mountain are so full of shops and carnival games that you cannot see much of anything.

No harm done, however, as I, like most travellers, am just using this as a launching off point to another destination.