Vietnam - Dossing on the Delta

An early start this morning as we're out on the bikes again to the Mekon Delta off of Apocalypse Now. At breakfast the girl from the hotel invited us to go shooting guns on Sunday, an offer we surely can't refuse. It does however mean changing our plans for the 18th time :)

Having a hissy fit

The bike ride was easy this time, we didn't get lost or run over and it only took a tad under 2 hours. Once we were in the vicinity of the river our plan was to park up and find a boat. What we didn't expect was to be chased by tour touts on motorbikes. We succumbed to this tactic and got taken to the dodgiest dock ever. Pirates walk better planks than the one we had to. That took us to a wall we had to walk along (no rail, 10 foot high and water both sides. From here it was down a ladder and onto the boat.

As true celebs, we had the boat to ourselves as we headed off on our 3 hour tour down the delta. We found it odd that in the middle of the delta, on a boat in the arse end of Nam, we had a brilliant phone signal, yet from my office in Brummy, rubbish! The first island that we stopped at provided us with honey tea which was oddly nice, they then gave us banana wine which was the most repulsive thing to pass our lips since the cheese croissant incident of 1998.

Oxford vs Cambridge vs Connops

We then found the bees that make the honey tea and tried to do a runner with them but saw a python and grabbed that instead.

We then boarded a rowing boat and showed what a great sea faring nation we are by ramming everyone else off the river. The Olympic rowing team could learn a trick or two from us.

On to the next island where we faced crocs (or alligators, we're not going to pretend to know the difference). We also had a choice of snake on the menu as well as dinosaur eggs, we're not entirely sure that's legit but hey what do we know.

We then got back on the boat which took us back to our bikes after just 2 of our 3 hour tour. When we queried this, the tour guide suddenly forgot English.

We biked it back safely, we got split up once in Saigon but managed to find each other again somehow. We then thought that it would be good while it was quite to make a video from the bike. So Tim jumped on the back of Mark's bike and we did a quick trip around the block, see the results here.

The narrow part of the Delta in the background

A much needed massage was needed, so we went to a different place which was both better but more brutal. At one point Tim had someone jumping up and down on his back which haven't done his already bruised ribs much good.

On the night we fancied an Indian, and as always our eyes were bigger than our bellies and we were stuffed.

On to the vodbulls for a wake up, and then some beers. Mark continued to sponsor the street peddlers and is now the proud owner of a laser pointer come torch come money checker. Simple things...