Vietnam

I had found a company that offered a number of options to get to Vietnam. There were bus options to go straight to Ho Chi Minh City (what used to be known as Saigon), but there were also boat options to go to a place in the Mekong river delta called Chau Doc. I have never been in a river delta before, so I thought that would be an interesting trip. This company had boat trips that would be at 8:30 in the morning. There were also two options around noon. One was a bit cheaper, while the other option included a tour guide. I opted for the tour guide tour, since I figured I could learn about the delta area on the way. That settled, I waited for my visa. The morning of my trip to Vietnam, I checked out and headed down to the quay to get the boat. When it arrived, I was the only one going. Long trip to make for only one passenger, but good for me.

We set off and I noticed that the river was flowing now in the other direction. The previous day, as I walked along the riverfront, I had noticed the river flowing up toward the Tonle Sap Lake. Today, as we boated along, the river was flowing the opposite direction. I couldn't figure out whether we had entered the Mekong's flow, thus it was flowing towards the sea, or whether the change in flow had begun for the Tonle Sap River and now the lake was emptying. The boat captain told me that we were still in the Tonle Sap River, but I couldn't be sure. I wasn't sure she knew what I was talking about.

And I had no guide, despite paying the higher ticket price for it. Sigh!! Ripped off again. But Mai, the boat captain, talked to me along the way. She talked a fair amount about what I could do in Chau Doc once I got there. She told me that she could take me around the next day if I wanted. It seemed a fairly hefty price to pay, at 20 dollars, for a couple of hours of toodling around, but I couldn't be sure. In any case, I decided to give it some thought, and I told her I would decide later. Meanwhile we headed downriver and saw sights of river life. I had seen such things before in Cambodia, but it was still quite interesting.

It's hard to tell, but the bottoms of these trees are under water. They should be above water, and will be in a month or so when the waters recede.

At length, we reached the Cambodia/Vietnam border. The Cambodian side is just a little post with a small dock. We pulled up, I entered the little compound and got stamped out of the country.

Vietnamese immigration was even easier. I didn't even have to go in and appear before the immigration officer. Mai took my passport in and got it all done for me. I thought that was a bit weird, but that's now it was.

Then we headed into a canal and up to Chau Doc. There was lots more activity on the river on the Vietnamese side. Boats cruising around everywhere and people and towns all over.

And water. Water was everywhere. There were big channels and canals. There were smaller tributaries joining them every few hundred meters. There were large areas that must be flood plains that would be dry in other parts of the year. This was clearly an area where they have to deal with the vagaries of water, and water is intimately connected to how people live their lives here. Mai told me the waters were quite high this year. And with still another month to go, it was going to get higher yet. I could see that I was going to want to spend a bit of time in the delta to see how life goes there.

I told Mai that I would like to accept her guiding services for the next morning. She told me that we could see what there was to see in Chau Doc in the morning and then I could catch a bus to Ho Chi Minh City in the afternoon. That sounded fine, although I still thought I would want to find a way to see more of delta life. I could figure that out later, I supposed. When we reached the dock and got off the boat, Mai put me in a pedicab and directed the driver to take me to a nearby guesthouse. She said she would pick me up there at 8. I got there safely, got a room for the stunning sum of 6 dollars, including aircon and wifi. Vietnam was going to be quite cheap, I could see.

Then I set out to get some money from an ATM. My pedicab driver was waiting for me, but I decided to walk. He seemed worried about that and called up Mai to find out what I was doing. I told her I was just going to an ATM to get some money. She knew where it was, only a couple of minutes from the guesthouse, and calmed the pedicab driver's worries. He headed off to find some other fare, as I really was only going to the bank and then back to the guesthouse. But...

Another pedicab driver had come around as well, and he spoke some English. He wanted to take me around for a while. I really wasn't sure about that, but he said he could take me around for an hour for 4 dollars. He would show me the city by night. I thought it might be an enjoyable way to spend an hour, and he was so persistent that I eventually agreed. I went back and had some dinner and then Tsao (that was the young man's name), came by and off we went. It is quite a pretty city at night, as I found when Tsao took me to a bridge over the river and I could see the little city spreading away in the distance, its lights shining on the water of the canal/river.

Through the whole of this day, I never once came up against what I have always heard about Vietnam, that it is difficult. The people are hounding you all the time. There are thieves around every corner. The Vietnamese are quick to anger and will fight and try to take advantage of the traveller at every turn. And I found none of that. Mai made my entry in the country very easy. She helped me find a guesthouse that was, in my opinion very reasonably priced. Tsao was very persistent, but not in a way that was offensive. He just wanted to make money and, truthfully, I was amenable to taking that ride. The people at the guesthouse were friendly and helpful. It was a very nice introduction to the country. I hope the whole of my time here is as nice. I really need to stop listening to what other people say about the negatives of places. I need to stop necessarily believing what Wikitravel tells me about places. Sure, there will likely be people trying to take advantage of travellers. There are people like that everywhere. But I don't think it will be any more in evidence than it is anywhere either.