Adventures in Australia and South East Asia: My Tho to Chau Doc

March 7, 8, 2010 Bus ride to My Tho, with stops along the way to take a boat ride to the how coconut candy is made then lunch and a 2hour boat ride to the wharf and the a bus ride to the hotel for some of the tour and for us a ride through the many channels of the Mekong river to our home stay. The boat ride was very enjoyable and took about one hour so it was dark when we arrived at the home stay.

A very nice family who put us up in bungalow type rooms with shared toilet facilities. The bungalows were very sparse but clean and had mosquito netting. The evening meal was very good and after dinner we all went for a walk along around the small village. There were four others staying here. Dinner was Elephant fish, rice and vegetables. We also tried some Happy Water (rice wine ) was very srong. After dinner we all went for a walk in the village, all the paths are paved so are very walkable. Next morning after a breakfast of eggs, baguettes, fruit and coffee or tea, the home-stay host took us for a walk to the local markets before we boarded a boat for the trip to the floating markets. After a hour boat ride in a small boat we transferred to a larger boat with the rest of the tour group.

The market is very large and they mainly sell to other smaller boats who then sell the produce in the markets. What a boat is sell is determined by the fruit or vegetable that is hanging on a pole on the boat. After the floating market we went to a large land market, very interesting, but very close , small alley ways, sell everything, fish, meat, spices, clothing etc.. Then on by boat to see how they make rice noodles. Then on the bus and on to Chau Doc.

If one want to see the Mekong that is very rural you have to go further north, here we are in the Mekong delta which has seven of the nine channels of the Mekong and is very heavily populated.