Woke up early and in a hurry in order not to miss my 45USD 2-Days-1-Night tour which includes a cruise to the Mekong river, visit to the water & local villages, a crocodile farm, and an overnight in a town that almost border Cambodia, as we cross the border by boat the next day.
I was originally sitting on my own, but as they filled our tour bus, I was seated with Manon, a lone traveler from the Netherlands. She said she's taking a break from practicing Psychology for a couple of years, and that I was very fortunate, as normally, conversations with her would cost some serious money!
So there we were, exchanging travel stories, my fast pace and her savoring each moment. We arrived at the port of My Tho after over an hour, where our tour of the fishing village started.
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| Hats for sale! |
The fishing village, after you’ve seen it already, ceases to
be interesting. I don’t know, it must be because I’m from the Philippines so,
though nothing exact, a market-type setting is nothing new.
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| Fishing Village boats |
We stopped afterwards in a pastry store wherein they are
making these candies that tasted good but sticks in my teeth like hell. Also
it’s my first time to eat “popped rice” which is cooked like popped corn, and
ginger crystals, which I found addicting.
We had lunch in this hidden restaurant, they probably only
get their customers via booked tourists from packages like us. This was when
Manon and I joined Hannah and Harleigh, 2 British ladies who are likewise
travelling Asia after finishing their university.
The river cruise lasted until about mid afternoon which in
bulk consisted of simply appreciating the wind and the sceneries, until we had
to go down to the port of Vin Long and take a bus to the crocodile farm.
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| River cruise snapshot |
While on the bus, our tour guide said that we won’t be able
to stay in the floating hotel since it says in his “list” that it’s not what we
paid for. Full of bull actually, they probably overbooked or found a way to
save some money by putting us in a cheaper accommodation. But I, being on a
vacation mode, exercise more patience on it. Weird thing, those who fought and
insisted actually got to stay there. But we were offered free breakfast.
We arrived in the almost middle of nowhere town of Chau Doc
at pass 6PM, checking in this old and a bit buggy rooms. After some minutes of
settling down, me and the 3 other girls headed out to get some dinner. That
town is absolutely dead. By this time I was regretting on not insisting with
the floating hotel, perhaps that’s the brighter night side of this town, along
the river. But our evening turned out fine still.
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| Carnival |
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| 4 kids in a motorized bicycle |
After checking out such a barren mini-carnival, we ate in the only restaurant in the street that had pictures in its menu. Shared our stories, drinks on the go, walked around some more, then called it a night. Highlights for me so far has been meeting these new friends, but I hope tomorrow we’ll get to cover better places to visit. It should be, we’re crossing the border to Cambodia.
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| (L to R) Hannah, Joenil, Manon, Harleigh |
the crocodiles!
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