We had about 4hours on the bus, luckily we slept for most of the journey, then arrived at our first stop at the floating market. We all piled off the bus and onto a small boat, getting chatting to a nice Aussie family that we travelling the length of Vietnam as well. On the boat we passed the floating market - nothing overly dramatic, but a different way of life that we had not seen yet; people living their whole lives and conducting all their work on the small self-made boats. Then came the good part; we went ashore on one of the islands and went round sampling a load of foods from the region: honey, popped rice cakes, lemon tea, rice crackers and all sorts of other interesing things like banana toffee. Pepped up on sugar we got back on the boat and out onto the main Mekong River. We went a long way up the river then into a smaller tributary; whereafter about half an hour of watching people swimming, working and fishing in the river as we motored up it, we stopped for lunch.
Lunch was good, but then we found out that the place had alligators in one of the large enclosures at the back of the restaurant. They were cool, and a lot better than the Vietnamese singing that came afterwards - squealing is an understatement! - we went down to the river to watch the boats instead.
Back on the boat it was a short journey up the river before we stopped at another market - it was a lot more "local" than most of the markets that we have been to and it was amazing to see all the masses of motorbike parts and other things that were on sale there.
We finished the day by getting on the bus that had followed us round by land. It took is on a one hour journey to Cam Tho where we are staying tonight.
In the room relaxing at the moment, before heading out for a meal and to check out the area later on. A great first day in the Mekong. Looking forward to more markets and boats tomorrow!
Sounds great to have had a day on the water. Love the sound of the markets, especially the banana toffee!
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