Hey Guys! We were up before the Sun on Day 3 of Viet Nam! It was our most anticipated excursion, today was the Mekong Delta River Tour. Fun Fact: The Mekong is the Worlds 12th longest river, over 2,700 miles!  The experience began at the City Harbour where we boarded a speed boat filled with a handful of other travellers. We were greeted warmly by our Tour Guide for the day (Hang) pronounced (Hung) she was full of energy, (probably from the Viet Nam coffee) and her smile & mannerisms were infectious.  The day was going to be a buffet for the senses with many sights/smells to take in.  As we cruised up the Saigon River with the picturesque backdrop of the city skyline fading  behind us, we entered the real Viet Nam where the local river people lived.

After seeing….. this we don’t have it so bad after all do we?  This was repeated over and over again for the next 20 minutes on both sides of the river.  The emotions we all felt are difficult to put into words.  The thing we liked about this particular tour was being able to get out of the tourist areas where things are all shiny and fake. This was Real Life for these folks.

OK time to move on to tour a beautiful Temple!

Off to the Market!

Wow! I have heard of “Whack a Bat” But Never “Whack a Fish”

Ok, Fresh Pig Ears! get em while they are baking in the mid morning Sun! Oh what a cutie-pie!

After the Market it was off again to more adventure, apparently we were going too slow so we got passed by this family hauling bamboo. wave bye!

Ok, Time to ride in a skinny row-boat and wear pointy hats!

So relaxing.

Beautiful rice field!

My New Hero! A farmer who owned this property had a pretty sweet set up, maybe 10 acres, a beautiful house and the best part was he could conduct business while walking around all day in his pajamas! How awesome is that? He was kind enough to allow me to take a pic and sell me some homemade banana whiskey!  $4 U.S. Oh Ya!

Sampling time with another friend I met! I have no idea what his name was and he was from the U.K. but I still liked him!.. 🙂

After a couple of shots I purchased 2 bottles for my guilty pleasure and we were off for a visit to another farm. Such kind happy people.

Oh Hey, Its Lunch!

Washed down with the local brew of course! BTW it was delicious! the brew & the Lunch for clarification…

Then on to another gorgeous Temple visit!

The day was going so fast! A tour of the local school was in order & teaching of the alphabet.

Note: Viet Nam alphabet a bit different from ours!

I hope this isn’t representative of Connor’s attentiveness at his school…

Ummm, I have to go to the bathroom…..

After School was over it was back to the boat for the return trip back to the city. I leave you with a few more pics to finish this day off with.

One exhausted kid!

Notre Dame Basilica

Saigon Opera House

Ho Chi Minh Square

OK that’s a wrap of the Mekong River Tour in Saigon. I would highly recommend the Les Rives Authentic River Tour if you want to see the real Viet Nam. The 4 days we spent here went by so quickly but we all said it was definately one of our favorite places that we have visited and the people once again, like all over SE Asia were so nice! If you ever get the chance to go don’t think twice…..

Just Do It!

Cheers

Gary