Day 69
Well to begin this amazing day, I fell off the gangway (the ramp to get off the ship) this morning at 7am. I now have a bruise on my arm and a skinned knee. I don’t remember how I did it, I think that I was just looking around and didn’t realize there was a step in front of me and down I went. Of course there was a harder impact because I had my 15 pound backpack on my back. But anyways, Ashley, Steph, and I went to the travel office where we booked our tour and waited for the arrival of the bus. There ended up being about 20 other tourists on our tour with us which was really neat, we got to meet some people from all over the world. Our first stop was at a Pagoda, it’s a far Eastern temple tower that has a series of upward curving roofs. At this place we also got to see one of the biggest Buddha’s. It was on top of a building and it was so amazing to see how big this thing actually was. The detail in it was incredible. You could see his belly button, wrinkles by his eyes, teeth. Then we got back on the bus for another 2 hours and went to a city (I can’t remember what it was called exactly). We then took a boat ride to an island for lunch. At lunch we had pork with rice and vegetables. We had the option of ordering Elephant ear fish, it’s a fish the size of an elephant ear and in order to eat it, they just bring it to your table, eyeballs still attached, and you just pick it off the bone, I passed. The food was really good and we ate lunch with 2 girls that were from California and were backpacking for three weeks. Then after lunch we took the boat to another island and saw how they made coconut candy. We got to try some, and then purchase some if we were interested. I bought the chocolate and the regular. They are pretty good, except when you buy them packaged, they come with a thin slice of rice paper on them and you eat the rice paper with the candy and it dissolves in your mouth, it reminds me of a Listerine. Then the candy is more along the lines of taffy, it’s very chewy. Our guide then showed us this rack, I guess you could say, of bees, they make their own honey and tea. We got to try it, and it was very very sweet, but still good. While we were drinking the tea a guy brought out a snake and we were able to hold it, I am deathly afraid of snakes, especially the HUGE pythons, but I knew since I was in Vietnam, I was going to have to hold it. I put it around my neck for about 5 seconds and then made him take it off because I was about to freak out, I didn’t realize how heavy and strong they are! We then got into these little canoes (4 people to a canoe) and went up this little canal/river type thing to another island that had fresh fruit and music. In the canoe along the way, they gave us the pointy hats to wear! When we got to the island, they had fruit waiting for us as people were singing and playing instruments. We weren’t there for very long until we had to make our way back to the bus and go another 2 and a half hours to another city (Vihn Long? Vinh Long? I can never remember!) When we got to the city we were to check into our hotel and just to remind you, our 25$ fee of the tour includes this hotel, so we weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived. Since there were three of us, we got the 4 bedroom room. Our handle had jewels all over it so we thought that it was going to be fancy. When we walked in, there were 4 beds lined up next to each other, with fire truck blankets on them!! The blankets were a small fleece and that was it. The beds were like cement walls and the pillows were so small, we knew that it was going to be an interesting night. When we went into the bathroom, there was a shower, but this shower was in the middle of the bathroom, it was just a hose and didn’t have a curtain or a tub around it, the water just goes all over the floor. Next thing we notice is that there are Geckos all over the room; I know they are harmless but I would rather not be sleeping with one at night. After we had settled in and came to terms with where we were staying for the night, we went outside and found a little restaurant where we had some dinner and just hung out for the night. If you’re wondering what the point of the trip was, it was to go to the Mc Kong Delta. This delta begins in Tibet China, and runs through six different countries, the only ones I can remember are Cambodia, Thailand, China, and of course Vietnam.
Day 70
We had to wake up this morning at 545am because breakfast was being served at 630, it was included! I had some eggs and an iced coffee. After breakfast we got all of our things and walked to where the dock was with the boats. We got on the boat and went to the floating markets. We had a tour of them; the boat just went around each one. They are on the water and in other boats, none of them are connected. The floating market consisted mainly of fresh fruit and drinks being sold. After we had a tour, he pulled up next to another boat that was selling fresh pineapple and we were able to purchase some, it was so good! And we got a whole pineapple for .50 cents. Our boat then took us to see where they make the rice noodles. Rice noodles are thin noodles, kind of like angel hair pasta. Vietnamese eat rice noodles all the time. The process in which they go through to make these noodles is insane. It is all done by hand and they are working with heavy and hot machines without any air conditioning, I don’t know how they do it. Then we went to a fruit plantation and saw where all the fruit is grown, for the first time I tried mango and I really enjoyed it. We got to walk across a monkey bridge, which is a bridge that was made out of bamboo type material and was very thin and you had to hang on or else you were going in the water. We had to go back to the boat and the boat took us back to the bus. We had an hour to ourselves to grab some lunch before the bus left to head back to Saigon. We went to the same place that we went to last night for dinner. At lunch I got egg noodles and vegetables. Then we had a 4 and a half hour ride back to Saigon. When we got back here, since we were already out we decided to walk around the backpack district for a while. This district is where we booked our tour. It’s filled with lots of tour companies, places to eat, and shops. After walking around for a while we were hungry and went to a really nice place for dinner. We spoiled ourselves a little since it was our last night in Saigon. We had some drinks and then headed back to the ship. Tomorrow is our last day in Vietnam and I think that this has been my favorite place. But then again I feel like I say that every port I go to!
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