Sunrise in the Mekong Delta. That's like seeing a movie. Six am we got
up to be right in time at the floating market before they close again
due to the heat.
After the breakfast we took a short walk to the pier. One buddy is not
to be missed: Ho Chi Minh. In middle of the french style promenade
there is another statue. Also the Baguettes are pretty french, so we
had the impression that we"re somewhere at the Cote D'Azur. Until we
saw the Durians. Nice fruits but the smell is really disgusting.
The modern vietnamese architecture takes a bit to getting used to. The
houses are long and small but high. Somewhen in the past it was
decided, that the basic size of the landed property is 15m times 4m.
The result is, that the people abandon the option for a garden.
But now it's time to get to the floating market. We had some weird
images in out head, how this could look like. And we were very close
with it.
But first we need to go somehow to the markets. And the best option is
for sure a small boat. During the ride we also had the chance to watch
the daily live on the Mekong.
To keep the boats running there are floating gas stations. Only the
supermarket was missing, but next to the merchands on the river you
really don't need one.
Slowly we came closer to the market. Ah, what the heck is a floating
market at all. Well, it's more or less a chaotic collection of
merchandise boats in different sizes. People and farmer are selling the
goods directly from vehicle to vehicle. After bargling and negotiating
the prizes as you can imagine.
A continuous coming and going of boats, stopping at each other,
bargling, praising, buying, negotiating.... A real chaos but totally
relaxed.
As usual everybody in the family is helping. The young kids are the
hardest negotiaters, especially with foreigners. Our captain and his
wife were guiding safely us through the market. No problem with the
signal colored toe nails.
In the market zone the boats are mostly paddled. Much more easier than
switching on and off the engine all the time and it's also easier to
navigate - if you know how. But as it looks the most of the people has
some kind of experience with it.
Some time ago we found a dream travel route in a cataloge of a travel
agency in the internet: From China to Vietnam down the hole Mekong on a
cruiser. Now we saw one of these cruisers. It's really lovely, build
completely out of wood, only 12 cabins and looks pretty cosy. Maybe we
have to think again about this trip.
It's a pretty hard decission, which picture to show here on the homepage. So we just show a small part of our really big fund.
The antipode of the traditional and slow live on the
market on the one side and the big contruction yard on the other side
is really big. but the vietnamese gouvernment is clever. Which nation
ever want to set up an production here in Vietnam needs to build a part
of the infrestructure. We came drving over japanese and chinese bridges
on american and french roads, passing by russion power cables and
so.
Time is flying on the Mekong. We could have stayed another 10 hours,
just sitting in the boat and watching the chaos. But there is the long
trip back to Saigon. Just another half hour in the shopping street
without buying snake wine and back in the car.
Couple of hours later we got the big surprise: flooded streets. Our
guide was pretty easy with it, it's still raining season. What? All the
information from the internet and travel agencies tells, that the
raining season is over already since weeks. Well, depends on the
definition of it. For us it wouldn't been a holliday without rain....
;-)
In Saigon we just went to the hotel, having a shower and then we
headed to the Bazar. Equipped with a town map and umbrellas we were
ready to cope with the traffic.
We found the Bazar wuite easy. We have also some experience with the
Bazar in Kashgar, so we haven't been shocked as Elizabeth was. Or?
Wow, what a day. Regina now needs a Pho, no discussion about it. Lucky
us we found a "Pho 24" soup kitchen right next to the market.
After all that busy sight seeing we're now ready for the paradise.
Tomorrow we fly to Nah Trang, a holiday paradise island to relax and
enjoy, but this is again a completely different story......
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huts.....
....at the Mekong beach....
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