We have been told many times on our travels, especially in Vietnam, that the way to get from A to B was "walking by feet" but for the next few days we decided the feet were getting a rest and we were going to "relax by bum" on a series of boats whilst we meandered the Mekong.
The temperatures here have been really high, regularly at 37 C with high humidity so we were glad to be starting our few days floating around, hoping for a cooling breeze. Our journey from Phnom Penh to the Mekong Delta was aboard the Blue Cruiser Express Boat, a smallish river launch capable of seating about 25 people. Fortunately there were only five of us on this five and a half hour trip so it was really comfortable. We had a choice of the very expensive first class Victoria Speedboat, the cheaper $25 US speedboat or the "business class" Blue Cruiser which included lunch. After seeing the "lunch" of a cold hot dog in a so not eco friendly one use polystyrene container we decided the only positive to this upgrade was that we avoided a crowd of very loud Italians who has taken the cheaper option...The river was quiet as we motored along, the banks with just a few cultivated fields. The Cambodia Vietnam border came into view after about four hours and we decanted into the border post. All very Cambodian, dusty and grubby but no queues as we hand our passports over for the exit stamp. Then back on board for a few hundred metres of "no man's river" where we again decant into the slightly more official Vietnam entry section. But it's all verv easy, someone from the boat takes the passports into the office whilst we relax outside where we could buy a cold drink or change money. No customs or any other formalities. And then back on the boat for the last couple of hours into Chau Doc. This was Ant and David's first river exit and entry between different countries, so much more of an adventure than going through airport immigration. It's really interesting, whilst the banks of the river and indeed the river itself had been quiet and lazy in Cambodia, all of a sudden on the Vietnamese side there was industry, fishing, dredging and other river activities. A perfect illustration of the difference between the two countries. But there was some "funny border business" going on in between the Cambodian exit and the Vietnam entry as the crew opened up the engine compartment and began to change the fuel supply lines. Then some dodgy fuel in a big plastic bottle was introduced. It all threatened to go horribly wrong as the engine refused to restart and we drifted for a while in the river. But eventually the dodgy fuel kicked in and we were soon motoring along again.
Just as the sun sets we arrive in Chau Doc and clamber onto solid ground. We have opted for the economy version accommodation here, a newish place run by a Vietnamese woman and her British husband, the Murray Guesthouse. She seemed to run the place, we never did see him. It was only a couple of hundred metres from the boat dock but our transport choice was limited to a very strange Cyclo contraption that even if we had managed to clamber in, we may never have got out. It also seemed wrong to ask some thin little old man to pull each of us and our big bag for one dollar. So we were back to "walking by feet", pulling our bags along the dusty Chau Doc riverside to the amusement of the local populace, I don't think it's a very common sight... We had been chatting to the other two people on the boat and they had booked the Murray Guest House too. They were laughing as they thought we were joking as I told Ant and David that I had booked posher rooms so we were guaranteed a window. They had booked standard rooms, so they soon stopped laughing - their room didn't have a window... Whilst we were walking by feet we were checking out the dining options of Chau Doc. Suffice to say we unusually patronised the posh hotel terrace restaurant on the river that night...
Next morning we were back to "walking by feet" to make the 200 metre dash to the posh Victoria boat dock where our Song Xanh sampan was waiting. Ant and I had stayed on one of these before but just for a night in 2008. For historical perspective check out this link:
http://gill35.blogspot.com/2008/04/one-night-only-in-million-star-hotel-7.html
This time we were to have a full on two day "relaxing on boat" floating along the Mekong.
We settle in, just the three of us and four staff and find it very easy to relax on bum on cushioned rattan chairs and sofas whilst the Mekong flowed by. Lunch was served out of what looked like a cupboard on the back of the boat as we continued on our way. After drinking a bottle of chilled Tattinger our guide repeatedly told us to "relax on boat" - we obeyed. We also settled in to our new titles that had been bestowed upon us. Madame Gill, Sir Anthony and Mr David, we quite like them!
The afternoon drifted by as we motored towards Long Xuyen, we were aiming for Tiger Island. This was clearly the fish farm centre of the Mekong with floating villages lining each bank, each house having a big submerged cage to breed their fish in the middle of their floating house. We were also surprised by the number of domestic dogs who lived on these floating houses, we were reassured however that people in the South do not eat their dogs so they weren't cultivating their dinner... The currents must have been against us as we arrived too late to get to the birthplace and house of the second president of Vietnam, Ton Duc Thang, it closed at 5pm. We moor up in a field of water hyacinth and then are taken to an ancient house for dinner. We walk (by feet) over a rickety bridge and then through the increasing evening gloom past locals who were all gearing up for their Saturday night and some lounging around watching the telly. The guide tells us it was only in 2002 they were able to get colour tv, before then they relied on car batteries which could only support black and white. Some of the more isolated communities in the Delta are still on the car batteries. Like many of these rural areas life is lived in the open, tv's were blaring, some kids were running about in the dirt roads and the younger people were getting ready for a Saturday night of karaoke. Dinner is at the ancient house, served with a bottle of red local Dalat wine. The meal was interesting but some of the meat may have been as ancient as the house....
Back on the boat as we cast off to get to our mooring place for the night, we settle on our sofas on the front of the boat and sip why why enjoying the cool breeze as we motor along.
The next morning was all go. At 6.15 the engines start as we motor back the short distance to the bridge to get back on Tiger Island. We again find we are walking by feet to arrive at the museum devoted to Ton Duc Thang in time for its 7am opening..... The earliest any of had ever been, or indeed ever intends to be, in a museum! We did our best to appear interested as we were regaled with the story of fishermen and white tigers and the life and times of said Ton Duc Thang. But it was soon over and we get back to the boat which had been magically reversed back to a living room and bedroom. Breakfast was laid out beautifully on the table on the stern. During a breakfast of bacon, egg, sausage, Vietnamese coffee, yoghurt and cornflakes, there were some odd engine noises and concerned looks. It appears we had left it a bit late to get off the mud in this dry season of low water - we were becalmed in a sea of water hyacinth. So we did what was expected of us and relaxed by boat on bums quite happily until the river rose just enough for us to float off the mud at about 11am.
The delay did mean our itinerary for the day was concertined a bit but there was still time for a boat cooked lunch and a bottle of cold wine as we went along. We visit a brick factory and as we reach Sa Dec, a Cao Dao temple, an off shoot Buddhist sect who think some unusual people such as Victor Hugo and Joan of Arc are their saints. A visit to a Chinese Temple and then to the home of the lover of Marguarite Duras.- then we are taken around the fascinating market in Sa Dec where we tried to identify fish and vegetables that we had never come across before. We arrived at the meat section of the market, never a favourite. We asked about the little pink skinned mammals we saw neatly laid out. We were told they were "field mice" from the rice paddies.... Rather large for field mice we think, rats? We check the "pork meat" in our dinner that night extra carefully... It had been quite a full day so we were pleased to be back to the boat for a beautifully served dinner on the back of the boat, again accompanied by a bottle of slightly better local Dalat wine. Dinner over, we perch ourselves again on comfy sofas on the bow of the boat sipping cold why why as we relax by bum on boat again across a rather wide stretch of the starlit Mekong to get to our overnight mooring spot. It was a slight worry though, this section of the Mekong is quite wide and lights on boats, even the really big ones don't seem to feature. Our captain though did shine his torch every so often to check we weren't about to hit anything....
We were warned of an early start the next morning and at 6.15 am the engines coughed into life. It is slightly odd to be motoring along the Mekong inside the dark cabin under a white mozzie net. I opened the front and Ant got up to sit on the bow watching the dawn come up and the river come to life. David decided to relax on back in bed on boat. Yet another breakfast served on the back of the boat and we then motor on to Cai Be, through the floating market. This acts more like a water based wholesale Covent Garden where all the local fruit and veg are brought in from the fields. We motor through boats full of watermelon, dragon fruit, bananas and pineapple and various other vegetables, each boat hoisting one of the fruits or veg they were selling on a big bamboo pole for advertising. Time only for a quick visit to the sweet factory, and of course a purchase of sweets for the journey, before we have to get off our lovely little boat and back to walking by feet. We walk by said feet through dusty lanes for a few minutes to be suddenly back in the real world where our taxi to take us to Saigon airport was waiting. Relaxing by bum on boat was over till the next time...
