Mini Mouse had an accident
There is this lovely beach front park where you get to see some bizard Disney characters. It's called "Bai Truoc" or Front Beach. There tends to be a small army of peddlers trying to sell you everything from post cards to "herbs".

If you can ignore the locals, it's a great place to sit in the shade and enjoy the view.


The Not-So-Clear Water
The water of Sông Cửu Long is best described as café au lait. The accompanying pictures show the exact colour without retouch. The reason behind this milky colour is the rich sediment at the bottom of the river. Although the colour is opaque, there is nothing wrong with the water. The twice-a-day tidal movement helps make the water clean for all usage. Although some people use the water from the river for both cooking and washing, rainwater is preferred by most when preparing food.

major chew marks
Unfortunately, they were priceless to us too and there was no way, we could forgo them. Doreen is nearly blind without them and her spare pair was accidentally left behind when we left six weeks prior from Munich. No, we had to get them back at any price. I tried using my camera strap to get his attention from his prize but with so many handy limbs, he merely switched the glasses to one of his feet as he held onto the strap with his free hands. No matter what we did, he kept the glasses as far from us as possible. It looked like a monkey bite was our only means of salvation as I imagined putting my arm in the cage and grabbing the little bugger but luckily the owner of the restaurant came out to lend a hand. He managed to get a hold of the monkey’s arm and simultaneously snatch the glasses from its feet as the animal shrieked bloody murder. Once the deed was done, you never heard such a wail from a human baby in your life. You might have thought we had killed the smaller monkey from the sound the bigger one was making. We made our way back to the boat partially laughing but ultimately just relieved from our narrow escape. Doreen noticed some major chew marks on the plastic part of the frame that wraps around her ear. It would be a good reminder to not get so close to monkeys in the future. Who said souvenirs are expensive in Vietnam? Well, at least ones you never bargained for.

The Special Room
We were tired from our altercation with the hotel staff and another busy day touring the Mekong Delta. We would have another boat trip to Cambodia in the morning so there was good reason to sleep even more quickly than the previous night. But with our clean sheets now protecting us from the dubious bed and the full-length mirror by our side, we switched off the florescent bulb, basked in the red hues, and enjoyed our “special” room.

a convenient option to turn off the bulb
The city was not as nice as Can Tho and we found only meager offerings of food in the local markets. It was quite a let down after the previous night’s feast. But it wasted some time and when we returned to the hotel, it was explained that they now did have the elusive double room with AC. And surprise, surprise, it was at their very hotel. Our elation did not last long as we triumphantly walked into our new digs to find what appeared a room used by prostitutes on an hourly basis. Shrouded by the same florescent lighting as the lobby, there was a convenient option to turn off this glare and utilize a dim red bulb that was fixed to the headboard of the spacious and rare double bed. Oh and there was a very large wall size mirror running the length of the bed as well. Let’s not talk about the sheets; we quickly pulled out our own. The funniest part was our friend from the bus stopped by to borrow some shampoo and said our room was so much nicer than his simple one. After he left, we laughed after realizing they did not want to give us this “special” room with the double bed and mirror as we were paying a reduced group rate. And most likely, they were losing out on the hourly rate too. (concluded below in Fondest Memory)

no AC was out of the question
This hotel made our previous night’s accommodation look like the Taj Mahal. It was glowing in fluorescent light as we pulled into the gated driveway. The cheap lighting did little to hide the dingy lobby, and from experience, we knew the lobby was generally the nicest part of Southeast Asian hotels. There seemed a mix-up over how many rooms the company had reserved and there was a mad dash for what was available. It seemed all that was left when they got to us was a room without air-conditioning. Though well into the evening already, it was dripping wet with humidity. I flatly refused the room and demanded what was in the brochure. A dive I could handle, no AC was out of the question. They vehemently argued there was nothing else available and I said if they gave me $10 (a typical price for a double with AC in Vietnam), I would just find my own room. This irked them to no end but they did not seem to budge. They wanted us to eat something at their hotel as they tried to sort it out, but I told them we would go eat in town and expected a room with AC on our return.(concluded below: Fondest Memory)

rolling, rolling, rolling on the river
The Mekong Delta is all about water. If you go to this region and do not get out on the water, you will be missing the whole thing. You pretty much have to at some point to get anywhere, as roads are broken up by the natural landscape of inescapable water, water, water. The floating markets are perhaps the regions biggest attractions so you're bound to run across a few of them, tour or no tour.

Though I normally do not go for all-inclusive deals, especially those involving group travel, sometimes they are too good to pass up. Such was the case when exploring the options for visiting the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Many do mere day trips from Saigon but the area is vast and most of your time is spent in transit, especially through the sprawling suburbs that emanate from what has become known as Ho Chi Minh City. Those with lots of time, patience, and gusto, venture down into the area on local buses. I spoke to a few that had done it and they said it was very rewarding. They found the people friendly and prices good. But the downside was the buses were more expensive than going on the group trips and not as convenient or easy to use as they had hoped for. So, what has become the norm now for most shoestring travelers and even many more upscale ones, is to do all-inclusive trips into the area for one to three days. We opted for a three day one that took us not only to the famed Delta area but also to Phnom Penh in Cambodia, which was to be our next port of call anyway. The price was great, including transportation, some meals, all entrances and even our accommodation. I would have been very hard pressed to find such deals even though it is my forte in travel. It looked too good to be true so we set our expectations low. (continued below in Fondest Memory)

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