Mekong Delta Tour (Vietnam-Cambodia) -ENG-

I had to two options to go from Saigon to Phnom Penh, the capital of  Cambodia:. By direct bus (8 hours-10$-7€) or joining a 2-3 days Mekong Delta tour. "Why not? I have time, und it can be nice."  So I chose the 3 days one.

Day 1: Sai Gon - My Tho - Ben Tre - Chau Doc 
 
We reached My Tho one hour from Saigon drive and took the boat ride through the Bao Dinh natural canal, with nice views to the stilt houses and the fruit plantation along the river sides, going through some mangrove swamps. 

We visited the My Tho wholesale fruit market. Then into another rowing boat through the Tan Thach natural canal in Ben Tre, cruise under the shadow of the water coconut trees. 

We visited a family where you can experience the agricultural lifestyle and even the spontaneous performance of our tour guide, who really loved singing for us from time to time. He loved to explain us the next steps in our tour by singing songs written by himself. First the the vietnamese and then english version.

He taught me also how to sit like a real vietnamese.

Trekking through the fruit plantation in Thoi Son island, and another rowing boat ride along the creeks before returning to My Tho by motorised boat to Chau Doc. In the picture you can see one typical riverside petrol station for boats.

After 3 boats I am think a 2 days trip would be enough next time... It´s was everything on boat....




I met during this tour a friendly mexican girl and we went out foor dinner, meeting the other 4 girls from Malaga at the river, and we had dinner all together. 

Something light. A BBQ with crocodile, squid, snake and frog...

We ordered some bottles of rice wine...FAIL. It´s quite tasty and apparently not to strong, but it is. Unfortunatelly we could realise that just when we tryed to come back home and got lost.


The hotel was just on the corner. but we needed like 40 minutes to find it out...


Day 2: Chau Doc - Long Xuyen 
 
After breakfest We went quite early in the morning to another boat trip (of course, another boat, thank you) to visit the floating fish farm and the floating village, the a weaving village, which it ´s probably a very nice experience when you have got not a rice wine-beer hangover. But we had it. It was not nice... The mexican girl felt much better after vomiting the fake breakfast into the river. It´s just organic fertilizer for the mangroves... but weaving, like the houses.

We went to the famous floating market in Cai Rang, watching the people from all over Mekong buying, selling, bargaining & exchanging goods from their boats. After that we stoped at a rice husking mill, where they also make rice paper (the stuff four the springs rolls) and rice noodle.

On the way to Can Tho via Long Xuyen, we visited a Crocodile farm. 

From the Sam Moutain, the caved pagoda we could enjoy the sunset over the Vietnamese-Cambodian Frontier.

Day 3: Cham - Kom Xenor - Phnom Penh

After breakfast (this time no alcohol on this previous night), we took a  boat (no please, no more boats) to a fish farm, which is actually a fairly large village, with over two hundred families. 

Fishes were really hungry....

From there we went to the historical Cham village, wich population ist mainly muslim. I got my own muslim clothing and I made a cute new friend, Arina.

Her family makes and sells this kind of chothes. I supposed to be the first western who could play to her. She is shy and doesn´t allow stranger to take her in arms. I could.

Her mother and our guide were quite surprised, because they get everyday different groups, and Arina stays always inside the house or on the lap of her mother, while she works making clothes.

Probably my mother is right when she says I have some special charm to get the attention of small children and play with them. Probably because I am just one of them...


Anyway Arina and me were playing for over 20 minutes. We really had fun. She reminded me to my nieces, Adriana & Daniela. Sweet, cute and friendly like two dolls. I am really happy to meet them soon.


After the Cham Village with went 3 hours by boat (please, I hope, this is the last one) to the border crossing in Kom Xenor and from there a 2 hours trip by van to Phnom Penh. 


That is how look the riverside road. Well you just can see the bridge and the trees. The road has just dissaperd under 3 Meter water. Also all the rice fields on the background. That happens at least once at year, during the raining season.

It was quite strange and unclear the way the manage all the paperwork at the border. They wanted to take our passports to bring them to the police. We should just wait there.We were not completly sure. They could just dissapear with our passports, but that´s the way they work... Fortunatelly the guy was back after 20 minutes and we got the passports back andd already stamped with the visa and we got the van until Phnom Penh.


The most funny thing was nobody asked for the 20$ fee for the visa. Neither our tour guide, nor the person, who made all the paperworks at the border for us, nor the border police, who finally stamped my passport without asking for anything else. So I got my Visa FOR FREE, like the maps and so many cities (but in Berlin).


So, the Visa fee was 40$ according the embassy in Germany, 35$ according the travel agencies in Hanoi, 25$ according the travel agencies in Saigon, 20$ according the stamp I got on my passport, but 0$ according the inefficent uncoordination of the cambodian burocracy. Thank you. I love Cambodia.