Mekong - Saigon
Natalie; We sadly departed Cambodia via bus (man did that make us feel sick....very bumpy ride) arriving at Neak Leoung to transfer to our boat...chicken run style. The Mekong is massive and we sat on the front of the boat soaking up the views along the way...Kate and Leonardo style ha ha..not quite as we did get a little burnt.
Lauren; The Mekong is home to alot of villages and farms; lots of excited kids waving to us. One thing nat and I didnt think we would suffer from here is tired arms from waving and sore cheeks from smiling! Water buffalo, cows, the odd pig, stacks of rice drying the sun; sitting on the bow with our Rambutans and water watching it all go by was a nice way to spend a few hours. Border crossing in Vietnam was pretty easy as we had a guide bribing half the population as we went. Onto another boat before arriving Chau Doc, a fishing town. Pretty interesting with houses, shops, even petrol stations floating on the river beside this friendly town (not alot of tourist so we got alot of smiles and 'hello's").
Natalie: The following morning we headed on a tour that went to a floating fish farm and a Cham minority village. The Cham people live across the river from the town and do some lovely weaving. We jumped on our bus to Saigon and made a couple of stops on the way as it is a 6 hour trip with no less than 14 people in a mini bus...plus luggage..comfy...nice...different...I like it :) We stopped at an incense factory for no reason other than to see the workers and how they made the sticks, some 5000 a day for $2US pay..very disappointed that we did not get to buy any and possibly help them out. We arrived in Saigon (we have been corrected a number of times on the HCMC) around 5 and after finding a nice hotel headed to the Rex rooftop bar for a cocktail or two. Great views and lovely atmosphere, we caught up with an Aussie couple...and hold your breath guys....they talk me out of the park...seriously these guys don't come up for air! They were great to chat with and seemed to be having a good time as well. The only sour note was that the staff tried to hit us up for $60US instead of the $23US that we had spent, good thing neither of us drink much as we were told it was a 15 % surcharge..um hello, last time I checked that was not 15% of $23....We are now off to walk around the city and take in the museums, markets etc, maybe have a bowl of 'pho noodle soup'.
Ciao xxx
Lauren; The Mekong is home to alot of villages and farms; lots of excited kids waving to us. One thing nat and I didnt think we would suffer from here is tired arms from waving and sore cheeks from smiling! Water buffalo, cows, the odd pig, stacks of rice drying the sun; sitting on the bow with our Rambutans and water watching it all go by was a nice way to spend a few hours. Border crossing in Vietnam was pretty easy as we had a guide bribing half the population as we went. Onto another boat before arriving Chau Doc, a fishing town. Pretty interesting with houses, shops, even petrol stations floating on the river beside this friendly town (not alot of tourist so we got alot of smiles and 'hello's").
Natalie: The following morning we headed on a tour that went to a floating fish farm and a Cham minority village. The Cham people live across the river from the town and do some lovely weaving. We jumped on our bus to Saigon and made a couple of stops on the way as it is a 6 hour trip with no less than 14 people in a mini bus...plus luggage..comfy...nice...different...I like it :) We stopped at an incense factory for no reason other than to see the workers and how they made the sticks, some 5000 a day for $2US pay..very disappointed that we did not get to buy any and possibly help them out. We arrived in Saigon (we have been corrected a number of times on the HCMC) around 5 and after finding a nice hotel headed to the Rex rooftop bar for a cocktail or two. Great views and lovely atmosphere, we caught up with an Aussie couple...and hold your breath guys....they talk me out of the park...seriously these guys don't come up for air! They were great to chat with and seemed to be having a good time as well. The only sour note was that the staff tried to hit us up for $60US instead of the $23US that we had spent, good thing neither of us drink much as we were told it was a 15 % surcharge..um hello, last time I checked that was not 15% of $23....We are now off to walk around the city and take in the museums, markets etc, maybe have a bowl of 'pho noodle soup'.
Ciao xxx
posted by Natalie Mack at 1:41 pm
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