VINH LONG

It was bumper to bumper traffic with everyone heading to their homeland for Tet as we set off for a drive through the Mekong Delta to the town of Cai Be.















A 15 minute stop before

boarding our private boat for a cruize along the maze of waterways and canals to Vinh Long.

On the way we stopped in at a coconut candy factory and watched the candy being made from start to finish, all by hand. This stuff is like a mouthful of condensed milk. See popped rice being made here.

We checked out a salt factory also before boarding our boat again.

We then stopped at the home of a bonsai gardener for a sumptuous Delta lunch of elephant ear fish.

Whilst there freak Sofie got up close and personal with a 10 year old python and said it weighed a tonne.

Boarding our boat again, towards the end of the day we arrived at Hai Dao, our homestay in Vinh Long. With the tide being low we weren't sure we would make it. Luckily, with some forward and then backward motion we made it otherwise it would have been a four hour wait till the tide came in. See movie here.

A bit of a snooze and some rest and relaxation.

The kids were seriously bored as they put it so they played by the river bank with sticks and in the mud. Poor Dave (aka ex-cast iron guts) soon after arriving came down with a belly bug and was disappointed he's missed out on all the beautiful food since. He's still only marginally better now.

The mekong is a known malaria zone (we're taking Malarone) but we needn't have worried about the mozzies annoying us (mozzie nets over our beds). It was more the hundreds of Roosters on the island that gave us a wake up call at 3.59 am and didn't stop till just after 7 am. Needless to say it was a light sleep from early hours. After breaky we cycled around the island.

And then boarded our row boats for a cruise to Vinh Long town. Talk about peaceful. See movie here.

Stopping along the way to visit a local brick factory.

We then met our vehicle for transport to Can Tho. At lunch Jayden was courageous enough to pull his front tooth out which had been loose for about a week. Looks like the tooth fairy will be paying him a visit tonight in Vietnam Dong.

Checked in now to Kimtho Hotel.

Photos here.