Moving from Vietnam to Cambodia

"The Mekong Delta Tour"

For our journey from Saigon to Phnom Penh - Cambodia's capital - we decided to take a two day trip on the Mekong Delta. Thousands of people live along the intricate maze of water and most of their trade is done on boats, which are also used for the bulk of transportation (see cow pic below!) The waterway is unfortunately really polluted and even in boats there's no escaping the constant ''you buy you buy ...'' from the Vietnamese. If these two factors were taken away, the Mekong Delta could perhaps be described as the Venice of south-east Asia.
For the two day trip, which included crossing the border, we went with an organised tour. We usually stay clear of tours but in this case it was the easiest and cheapest option. The first day was spent hopping on and off boats and buses, visiting small towns and markets and watching a local music performance. At one stop we learned how coconut candy is made (very tasty samples) as well as banana rum (not so tasty). We ended the day with a three hour bus journey to the border town Chau Doc, which could possibly have been our scariest ride yet. The driver sped through the congested traffic at least twice as fast as any other person on the road, ensuring we reached our destination an hour ahead of schedule. With the majority of roads unsealed, we left our seats several times as we hurtled over the bumps. We think he was racing to get home in time to watch the soccer! We arrived safely though and after some dinner at a local restaurant, Bol, Wayne, Grant and I went to bed early to prepare for our 6am start.

After crossing the border into Cambodia in the morning, we spent the remainder of day two on a boat, which was thankfully bigger than the first. We could sit on the deck, stretch our legs and have a couple of cold beers with new friends we met. There's not much else to say about the Delta. It wasn't the highlight of our trip, but we did get a chance to get some good photos and it was a more interesting way of crossing from Vietnam to Cambodia than by bus.

Now, I've written this post from Cambodia but the computers here are so slow, you might have to wait another couple of weeks to find out about, and see photos of, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. We're having an awesome time in Cambodia though and will fill you in more as soon as we find broadband! Em and Bol X