Mekong Delta

My dad, Heather, Jeremy, S and I have spent the last 3 days exploring the Mekong Delta in the south of Vietnam. After picking Heather and Jeremy up at their hotel in HCMC, we got on a public bus to My Tho, pronounced Me Toe. It was 3 hours, hot, packed and the bus was stopping every 20 minutes to pick up more passengers, who were shoving their cargo between the seats. Once we got in to town, we negotiated with a man at our hotel to take us on a 5 hour boat ride through the delta. My dad, S and I got on a put-put boat and, after having a delicious lunch, visited a coconut candy factory, took a row boat through the delta's narrow canals, and stopped by the coconut monk pagoda- a worshipping shrine for a monk who gave up his wordly possessions and supposedly only ate coconuts for the rest of his life. We watched the sun set and headed back to have dinner with Heather and Jeremy who were jetlagged and having a rest.
The next day we took a car to Can Tho, the most populous city in the Delta. Some highlights of our time there was this funny Aussie named Sean who seemed to pop up every time we sat down for a meal and our massages from blind people, which was quite enjoyable. Without question, the most memorable part of our time in Can Tho was our day-long boat tour with Ms. Ha and Thai-oye, our boat conductor. Ha and Thai-oye took us to visit the floating markets in the delta. Floating markets are boats that sell rice, produce or other goods in the middle of the river. We started our boat trip early so we could see the market at its most lively time. Thai-oye rowed us through the middle of the markets and she and Ha purchased many fruits and snacks for us to try. They also took us to a small rice noodle factory and made Heather and me jewelry from coconut tree fronds.
Tomorrow morning we will catch a ferry to Phu Quoc Island to spend a few days on the beach before my dad, Heather and Jeremy head back to NYC.