Vietnam: The Mekong Delta

After a few days of being distinctly lazy on a Vietnamise beach, I decided it was time to get off my ass and do a bit of actual sightseeing. I therefore decided to take a boat/bus to the city of Can Tho, the settling for one of Vietnam's famous floating markets.

I settled on a rather charming hotel in the centre of the city and, rising before dawn, I set out on my tour of the floating markets. As our boat chugged up the river, we were treated to a truly lovely sunrise that bathed everything in a warm orange glow.

By that point me and my fellow tourists were all getting a bit peckish, so as we pulled up to the market it was a pleasant surprise to find one of the boats ladling out steaming portions of beef noodle soup. After pigging out on it and freshly prepared coffee I took in the sights and sounds of the floating market. People selling everything from fish, veg, junk food and even the occasional electronic good floated past us, all on the mostly brightly coloured boats imaginable.

After all this hustle and bustle it was a pleasant surprise to find that on the return journey our guide took us on a detour down some of the backwaters of the river. We drifted past verdant green shores, upon waters that turned to green and sparkling gold in the midday sun.

I arrived back at my hotel in the early afternoon and decided to spend the rest of my day wandering around Can Tho. It proved to be quite a nice place to spend the day and as I walked down past the river I got sucked into a rather beautiful buddhist temple decked out in the most splendid golds and blues imaginable.

My time in Vietnam was coming to an end however and the next day I took a bus back to Saigon, ready to fly back for my final two weeks in Thailand.