Mekong Delta

With a short stop in Hanoi, we returned to Saigon, from where we set off to the Mekong Delta. This was convenient, as we wanted to cross the border to Cambodia there anyway. The delta is huge and crisscrossed by hundreds of river arms. So there is a lot of water and it is extremely hot, which allows for agriculture with three rice harvests per year. Besides rice, everything else you can imagine grows here, especially a lot of fruits. We spent one night in Can Tho and set off very early the next morning by boat to take a tour through a part of the delta. A highlight was visiting a floating market (probably the largest in the delta), of which there are several. The principle works in such a way that all products from the delta are brought to this trading place with small boats from the remote areas that can only be accessed by water. Here, the bargaining starts and the goods change boats and owners. You can recognize which products they have on offer on a given day by the long poles sticking out of the boats. For example, there you will find pineapples, onions, or whatever. In this way, everyone quickly recognizes which products each boat has on offer. A clever system. Many of the traders even live with their families on their boats. The whole country is supplied from the delta. Afterwards, the goods are loaded onto trucks or directly onto larger boats that then ship the goods further. Due to the heat, the market starts before sunrise. In between, you could also simply eat very deliciously in one of the floating kitchens (it's amazing what they can cook on their little boats)...you can enjoy some fruit here and there or have the beverage boat dock and buy yourself a fresh coffee😊 Afterwards, we sailed through many small tributaries and took a walk in the countryside. There, everything grows... pepper, pineapples, chili, ginger, rice, mangos, stinky fruit, lychees, just everything 😊 It was a very beautiful and eventful tour. In the delta, life revolves around and on the water, and you get an impression of how important the Mekong is for the people here.

On the way to Cambodia, we spent one more night in Chau Doc - there's simply nothing to report about this city 😉... except that it is the gateway to Cambodia.