Hoʻopuka ʻia: 28.11.2017
Yesterday I started quite early from Saigon to drive to Can Tho, the "capital" of the Mekong Delta and the fourth largest city in Vietnam. After all, the journey was supposed to take about 3.5 hours.
The journey was not marked by storms, rain, and bad weather... it was just fun, even though it wasn't the most beautiful route in terms of landscape and traffic. The sun made a good appearance, and I even got a slight sunburn again!😬
Arriving in Can Tho, the accommodation of my choice was already fully booked. Usually, I always check booking.com or similar for reasonable accommodations, then go there directly and ask for the price because it often becomes a bit cheaper than the online price. Now the hut was already full, so I looked for something else - it turned out to be a very decent hotel, which of course also offers Mekong tours with a visit to floating markets (large markets with boats). But the prices for that started at €40 and above... in short - really expensive! 💵 In the end, I left it for now and got a tour for €4 in the evening, including a wake-up service (they called me at 6 am to wake me up)!👍
At 06:30 am, the tour started this morning. We went to the floating market, the noodle production, the fruit plantation, and a "ancient tree" with its roots. Every now and then, we also visited a sales hall in the best style of a coffee trip, but overall, the trip was really worth it!... especially for the price! After the tour, even Vietnamese tourists from Hanoi told me that they paid more than me, which made me even more excited!😄
I was the only non-Vietnamese on the tour and probably the main target of the tour guide, who fed me with tons of fruit from the market boats and other stuff in the sales halls (there were also dried frog legs and snake meat - which the Vietnamese bought a lot)😂
The hustle and bustle of the floating market and the life on and around the Mekong were already impressive because it's completely different from our lifestyle👌
Tomorrow I will continue towards the Cambodian border, more precisely to "Rach Giá", from where I want to sail by ferry to the largest and most popular Vietnamese island "Phu Quoc". My planning is not yet detailed and nothing is booked yet, but I think it will be fine!😜✌️