Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Crocodile fishing 5000dong

With just a couple of days left we decided to head out into the Mekong Delta. Primarily to visit the floating markets. Meandering through the waterways was enjoyable, but stopping for lunch on an island led to unexpected events. Walking around we saw a sign "crocodile fishing 5000Dong" beside an enclosure of crocodiles. So, naturally we said let's go! Grabbing a bamboo pole with a bit of meat tied to the end with string we started teasing crocodiles. This was a good lesson in why not to swim with crocodiles. Some of the others who were there held their meat low over the water and when it was grabbed they often managed to keep some of it back. I was trying to make the crocodiles jump, and boy can they jump high! The one that finally got the meat had it's entire body out of the water to it's back legs (and Jason snapped the photo to prove it!).

Monday, October 6, 2008

So, there was a bit more than clothes

I just thought that I should write something about Hoi An other than the shopping. It's a lovely old historic town that miracuously managed to avoid being bombed into oblivion. To enable you to explore properly you buy one ticket that takes you to old houses, temples, chinese assembly halls and traditional music concerts. It was really quite beautiful. Also, the traditional dish of cau lao was incredibly good and made a cheap tasty lunch nearly everyday we were there.

From Hoi An we took our first ever night bus to Nha Trang. This was certainly an experience. The seats were cleverly designed, at least if you are Vietnamese. Unfortunately for those over 5'3" you're left wondering where your lower legs are supposed to go. They nearly go flat, with you feet underneath the persons back in front of you. For those with size 11 feet the hole for them was not big enough at all. Despite this we actually slept pretty well and were ready to enjoy the beach in Nha Trang. We spent a couple of days there planning to go and see some of the sights in the area, but the beach was so beautiful, with clear water, islands abounding, mountains behind we just never found the motivation to move from it!

From there it was off to Saigon with a quick stop in Mui Ne on the way. Oh, how glad I will be to go back home where crossing the road does not feel like a life threatening activity.