In order to get to Cambodia via the Mekong Delta, it was easiest to get a tour which organised Visas etc for us. At 8am Thong (yes, that was his name!) picked us up from the travel agent and explained our day's activities...which consisted of the first part of our crossing - getting to Chau Doc - final resting place before Cambodia.
First day of our tour started off quite nicely with a boat tour of a floating market, this market consisted of hundreds of boats floating (believe it or not?!), each with a bamboo stick on the front of their boat showing what they were selling - eg bananas or hats or leeks, the residents of the local boat houses then sailed out to these boats and bought what they needed - this was quite cool to see although the safety of our boat was sometimes questionable - especially when the tour guide starting blessing himself! After the market our boat took us to a little village where we were shown how they made coconut candy, rice paper, rice crispies, popcorn and peanut crunchy biscuits - we really enjoyed this and it was an interesting experience, we even got to taste some of the local 'snakewine' which consisted of a big glass jar with ricewine, a snake and a big black (dead) bird! It was really strong but one of those things you just gotta try in Nam...
After this visit we went to another lovely little island where we had lunch overlooking the Mekong River. Our guide had told us that there were crocodiles further on down the island so we went for a walk to a crocodile enclosure where they sold bits of meat hanging off strings, they called it "crocodile fishing"! It was fun to feed the crocs and see them jump up and snap at the meat...again probably not totally safe but we survived the adventure. Our visit to this island was rounded off by some traditional Vietnamese music which was pretty special, at the riverside by older men dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing.
The final part of our day included travelling by boat,and ferry, and bus to Chau Doc. Our hotel here was pretty basic and the long black hairs on the bed meant that we were glad it was only for one night! Our one night in Chau Doc wasn't much to write about,although walking along the riverside with lightning flashing within the clouds was pretty spectacular! We went for dinner in a little Lonely Planet mentioned restaurant around the corner,funny enough the whole tour had gone to the same place,an experience we encounter pretty often on our travels as everyone seems to frequent the same places!
The following morning we were awoken at 6am by Thong at our door shouting something,I didn't have a clue where I was! After breakfast we were taken out on rowing boats, incredibly unsturdy, to see a house with a fish farm on their veranda - it was amazing, every time the guide threw in some food hundreds of fish splashed and practically jumped out to get the food! This was followed by a visit to a Cham Ethnic minority village, and eventually the trip to the Cambodian Border.
In order for the process to be speeded up in getting our visas, we all had to give our passports and the $22 to a guy who subsquently jumped off the boat into some bushes to organise this! It's amazing how much trust one can put in somebody just because they say they're off to get you a visa! Luckily for us the guy showed up again at the border with our passports stamped, and thus we entered Cambodia...
