Bye Bye Mekong

Today we returned to Ho-Chi-Minh-City, marking the last destination of our journey this year.

On the way back to the big city, we made several stops. In the Đồng Tháp province, we stumbled upon a local market that appeared surprisingly well organized and clean compared to the ones we had seen so far. I tried a durian fruit again here. It is said to have an unpleasant smell (so strong that many hotels prohibit consumption and storage in the room), but tastes good. I found the smell acceptable, but I didn’t like the taste.

After another short boat ride over a beautiful and much less polluted section of the Mekong, we stopped at a local rice wine distillery. The spirit king was in a good mood, which is understandable given his job, and let us taste the distillate in various flavors. I also grabbed a bottle for the home bar.

To round off our tourist day, we also visited a coconut candy and chocolate factory, where we exchanged a few Vietnamese Dong for some treats.

A scooter ride along with a visit to a historic house completed the program that our guide Phi had planned for today. After that, we had lunch at a friendly family's home. We had crafted the spring rolls ourselves beforehand, so there was no complaining about the food! ;-)

All in all, it was admittedly quite a touristy day, but it was enjoyable.

After our arrival in Ho-Chi-Minh, we headed straight to the hotel and later walked through District 1, the bustling center of the city. I opted for soup from one of the many street vendors again. The girls preferred to slowly start preparing for Europe. They had pasta at the 'Italian' place.

That’s it for today, now it’s time for bed.

In that spirit: Chúc ngủ ngon!