A third of a year. Is it really that long?

I can't believe it's been 4 1/2 months. We're nearly halfway through our contract! We need to start looking at new places to work. We love Vietnam but we want to see a lot more of the world. Many people do stay here because the life is easy and the money's good. So that means you've all got 7 1/2 months and counting to get out here! We have a few people visting over the next few months so that will make for some interesting blog material.

So after the last blog me and Matt decided to go to the Mekong Delta. It the southwest region of Vietnam where the Mekong River meets the sea. The Mekong River goes all the way up through Cambodia, Laos and ends in China.

We got a bus on a Tuesday morning to My Tho. Here we got a boat to a small island where they were making coconut candy - which by the way is DISGUSTING! Some people may like it but WE did not. As we were looking around the place we came across some snake wine. A massive container with approximately 20 snakes coiled in. So we tried it, of course. Tastes like whisky actually. The next wine we tried was made from bananas. That was really wrong. It tasted like ash tray and cough medicine mixed together. YUCK!

We then were allowed to go off on a little bike ride and I don't know if you've ever seen pictures of the bikes in Vietnam but they are old school!!! Barely intact, no back brake, seat as hard as bricks...loved it!

The bad thing about this trip was the fact that it was a tour. They hurry you along like a herd of cows. We got ushered into little boats (which for me was the best bit). It felt extremely Vietnamese. Matt had his hat on and a can of beer in his hand, whilst I rowed!






We took a bus ride to the next place and by the time we got there it was dark. We were ushered into a little boat and it basically felt like we were being smuggled from one country to another. Who knows maybe we were, we had no idea where we were!

Finally we arrived at our destination, a Vietnamese family home in the middle of...somewhere. There were two options. We could have either gone to a hotel and stayed the night or get into this little boat and stay at a Vietnamese persons house. We totally chose the right option! They showed us to these little huts to sleep in. They were awesome!!!

After looking around the house, which by the way was so cute, we were served dinner. Yummy homemade Vietnamese food! It was amazing and all free. To top it off there was a beer fridge. Me, Matt and the 4 Germans that were with us drank 49 beers. I was in bed by half 10!! Oh but not before doing a little bit of night fishing in the river. This was very unsuccessful though!

The next morning after being rudely awoken around 3 times by a crazy cockerel we set sail to the floating market. It was a very weird experience. The market stalls drive up to you and attach themselves to your boat. All they were really selling was fruit which got a bit tiresome after a while.

After seeing a few things in the area we were taken to a crocodile farm. It was crazy, there must have been about 500 crocodiles. Little cute baby ones to massive scary 'could eat people' ones. They were all pretty lethargic though, lazing around in the sun. Not much happening in Croc land!

We next stopped at Sam Mountain. It's basically a mountain with lots of steps going up it leading to a pagoda. The view up there WAS INCREDIBLE! We could see Cambodia. The sun was setting so we got a few pictures of that. But again we were rushed through all of this quite quickly so didn't have time to just chill.

Finally we reached Chau Doc. This is the nearest town to Cambodia so from here people cross the border via boat or bus. We had a nice evening just eating Vietnamese food and drinking beer in street cafes. Not a very lively town, everything shut down about 11.30pm. We needed an early night anyway, because we were being taken for breakfast at 6!!

Finally we visited the Cham minority village. This was awesome! We had to get there by boat of course and when we reached the little dock, they had made out of wood, I felt like I was in a different world. The house were built on stilts because the water comes in pretty high in rainy season. Everything was made from wood and there was a lady weaving pashminas. It was an extremely pretty place.

Now it was time for the bus journey from hell back to Saigon. 7 hours on a bus is NOT my cup of tea, neither is having next to no leg room!!! BADTIMES. I was very happy when I saw the good old smog cloud of Saigon.

hmmmm so what else?

Ah yes the ILA Christmas Ball. Everyone got dressed up very pretty, although the Vietnamese outdid the Westerners big style! They looked hot!!!! I got a dress made, just gave them a picture of a Kate Moss dress and it turned out pretty damn similar. I chose a different colour though.

The main attraction of this party was the free food and alcohol! Yes it was good times. I was pleasantly p*ssed. I'll put some photo's up.

Ok need to go buy a Christmas Tree now and decorate out flat! Very excited, however it has started pissing it down with rain which is not good. I'm gonna have to wait it out! Boooo!

Not entirely sure of our Christmas/New Year plans yet but I'm sure my next blog will tell you all about them. It may be entitled "How we got Carl, Ross and Laz out of Vietnamese Jail".

Ha ha

xxx