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Vietnam (Day 3) Mekong Delta River Adventure

Wow doesn't even begin to describe our 2nd tour in Vietnam!! 


Today we explored the Mekong Delta with a private guide (Jason SSS). I had pre-booked his 2-Day Mekong Delta tour over a year in advance! Jason and his driver picked us up at our hotel in the morning at 7:30am and we drove through the countryside seeing so many interesting sights as well as beautiful and plentiful rice paddies. After about an hour or so, we made a short rest stop and had our fun crossing a monkey bridge.  Thankfully, nobody fell in the water, although I felt the bridge start to give on my turn! 




In no time at all, we arrived at Cai Be boat station to make our way to the Cai Be floating market.  Jason's family has a boat and it was a special treat to have it all to ourselves, cruising the Mekong Delta relaxing on awesome purple hammocks. 








Arriving at Cai Be Floating Market, we delighted in the market action watching boat sellers pull up along the tourist boats and sell their wares.  Then, we got to do something that we saw no one else get to do - we boarded one of the market boats! We were warmly invited aboard and one by one, we carefully hopped over onto this vendor's boat for delicious fresh-cut fruits.  It was pretty neat to see her full operation up close and wow, she sure did cram her boat so efficiently!







Back on our boat, we cruised the Mekong River out of the floating market while relaxing on our 💜 hammocks.  Soon, we docked and changed over to a sampan (flat bottom wood boat) to go around a canal.  It seemed highly likely that we would tip over at some point. 

Blending in :) like locals!






I was worried that we were going to have to go out on the open river to get back to the boat.  We hadn't tipped over yet and I thought for sure that would be tempting fate.  No worries, our boat was waiting at the mouth of the canal near our drop off point.  Whew, no getting wet (yet).



He blends in so well! Hahahaha.
Visited a local village on one of the Mekong Delta islands and saw the Phu Chau ancient pagoda (built in 1754) where no tourists go. We were the only foreigners! 










Return to the boat to go back to the pier. Gonna miss those purple hammocks and the easy day cruising on the Mekong Delta.  






Next, we did one of my favorite things, which is exploring local markets. This one did not disappoint! It was siesta time, so we wandered unbothered and were able to get enjoy a closer look at all the wares

Shhh, it's siesta time!

Noodles, noodles everywhere!

The sights!  The smells!  Local market delights!

Fresh meats!

If Jason poked it, then they did too.  Oh my goodness.

Judging by the pic, I think they found ear of something here.


Snails!

Rice!

Nap by fan.  It was really hot.

Fish!


Frogs!



Eggs!  Loved strolling thru at siesta time.





Finally, we were taken to the home of our guide's auntie for a lovely home cooked feast. What a treat!  





Fascinated by the scorpion!

We had such a great time relaxing after our meal with Jason's aunt and uncle.  They got a big kick out of the English-Vietnamese translation booklets that the kids were using to talk to them.  My kids are usually pretty shy, but they both warmed up to the uncle.



Rob contributing to the family garden!

After stuffing ourselves silly, we said goodbye to Jason's family and drove the rest of the way to Can Tho.  Tomorrow we have an early meet time of 5:20am to take a sunrise boat trip to the Cai Rang floating market. Jason checked us (and himself) into the Ang Dao Mekong Hotel in Can Tho for the one night. He gave us a quick tour of the city and while it looked inviting for a night out, we decided to relax with some carry-out dinner and then get to bed early. 



📖 It's 2:30am. 😂 I hope they are still wide awake in 3 hours when we start our sunrise boat ride to the floating market.

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