Empty Nest Trekkers: Mekong Delta, Vietnam

After 26 days of touring Vietnam it was time to move on to our next country...Cambodia. Up until this point we have been traveling on our own as we prefer to not be part of a tour group. We figure half the fun is figuring out how to get from one point to the next and most importantly having the freedom of being on our own time line. When it came time to plan how we were going to get from Southern Vietnam into Cambodia, we ran into some strategic road blocks. It didn't take long for us to decide to take our chance and go the easy route with a 3 day 2 night tour group. It ended up being a great choice. We saw so many things that would have been very difficult to arrange on our own. It was super cheap too! Of course no stop would be complete without a Buddha statue. Loved this one with his huge smile. (Kas)

One of the many stops we made was along small islands on the Mekong Delta to see how the local people live. This particular area still uses the Pony Express of sorts. Poor Ponies didn't look too thrilled.

Crocodiles waiting for lunch. Kind of looks like me when Its past snack time!

Snacks on the dash.....that's what I was thinking, but it's actually a offering. Our driver placed it on the dashboard in hopes for being blessed. We were indeed blessed as he was the best driver to date. Perhaps our driver in Cambodia should have done the same. Maybe it would of prevented the horrible accident he caused. That's for another blog tho!

We stopped at a fish farm. These floating homes on the river have cages underneath them that house thousands and thousands of fish. The family lives on the floating home. This is basically their deck. You would have never have guessed what was underneath until they lifted the plank floor. Some of these floating decks have cat fish that are huge. Kind of creepy!

We visited the Cham people in their community. They are Muslim and produce some beautiful hand made scarves and skirts.

Cham man in his traditional skirt. That's a lot of thread to keep straight!

Of course no visit to South East Asia would be complete without stumbling across a "sweat shop"

One of my favorite things to do in these small little towns is to walk around watching the locals. Many people are usually sitting on their front porches cooking or running their businesses that they have in front of their home. I wish I would of brought our good camera to capture some of these moments better. That's the downside of backpack traveling. No room for big and bulky items.

Our super sweet tour guide. She is convinced she's going to be an "old maid" since she's 26 and not married. Apparently that is very unusual in her culture to not be married by now. She wanted to know all about Ty and Jake and was VERY interested ha ha

Both Paul and I were really excited to explore the Mekong Delta region. We spent 3 days off and on this beautiful river. It's the 11th longest river in the world and spans from the Tibetan Plateau passing thru several countries and ending in Vietnam. It was amazing to watch the locals carry on their daily routines as we floated along. They use it as transportation, trading their goods at floating markets, washing, laundry, fishing and everything in between.

I was fascinated by the scenery. Following are some snipets of what we saw. Everywhere we looked was a photo worthy moment.

when it came time for our long journey up the Mekong from Vietnam into Cambodia we took 2 very different boats. This first one was all wood and really cool. There were only 7 of us on it so lots of room to spread out.

Once we reached the Cambodian boarder we had to switch to this funky vessel. We had ridden on one of these in Northern Vietnam and I wasn't a fan due to being "sealed up". Fortunately they never closed the doors and even better yet we were able to climb and ride on the roof. Something that would never be allowed in the States. It was super fun!

When your claustrophobic and need to be by the door.

Quickly into the trip we all had climbed up top.

It turned into a 5 star cruise when they delivered cold beer to the roof of the boat. We hadn't seen one of these pull tabs in decades!

It was fascinating visiting with this young guy. He works on the boat. Once we were all settled in he climbed up on top of the boat with us and told us what is't like to be a young Cambodian guy. He had to leave his family that lives in a village far from the city to find work. He also puts himself through night classes to learn English, although his English was excellent. He's the age of our kids and I couldn't help to be reminded that the only thing different from him and our kids is that our kids had the advantage being born in the US (or any developing country). We have been reminded of this time and again traveling. Many locals will ask where we are from. We stopped staying US, USA, the states etc. because they don't understand. Most only understand, "Merica. They always drop the A. It's often followed up with "you from land of opportunity"....... they always smile when they find out where we are from. Everyone is so friendly!

One of the stops was a small business that makes rice noodles. These flat pancake rice dough is dried in the sun then put through the noodle maker.

At the floating market this lady carved me a fresh pineapple. Our boat pulled up to hers. Unique "drive up" service.

These little boats selling stuff would pull up to our boat like concession stands on water. I think there's some business potential in the states people! Coffee, beer, lunch, you name it pulls up to your boat. I love it! .

Some weird fruit. I forgot the name. We've seen and tasted some fruit we never knew existed.

Vietnam Cambodia boarder from Vietnam side.

Cambodia Immigration. Also on the river

One of the best things about traveling abroad is the amazing people you meet along the way. Lithuania, Russia, Germany, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Israel represented here. This was our tour group that we spent 3 days with. Amazing people. And they all want to know what the hell is up with our election this year. LOL

We were told we were going to a "forest" but it was actually a beautiful swamp in Southern Vietnam.

There always seems to be friendly women who want to row us around. Although, I've yet to see a man at the helm rowing.

the swamp water was full of this vegetation.

Typical scenery with the water buffalo in Vietnam. Apparently they are used to work in the rice fields

Another menu we laugh at. Of course we find out what the word Rat is in Vietnamese on our last day in the country. Would of been nice to know this a month of meals ago!