New Years Eve day on the Mekong delta.

Today I booked a bus and boat trip to the mouth of the Mekong River.

As we were waiting for the bus to load this bagel vendor went by balancing a tray on his head and when I got out my camera he took the pan down. I motioned to him to put it up again for the picture and he motioned me to buy a bagel.

It was a 3 hour bus trip to get to the delta near the ocean side. Here is the look of the countryside we passed on the way.

The city is clean and modern with wide streets which are plum full of motorbikes. I like it here.

Here we are at the dock.

This was our main boat from which we transfered in and out of smaller boats for the smaller canals. We went around four islands and were in and out of several places. We saw a few local industries besides the wine and honey. We saw candy making from coconut milk and many wooden carved articles. We were treated to a concert as we nibbled on fresh fruit with tea.

Bridge over the Mekong river makes short work of what used to be a long trip.

Our tour guide holding a rack of honey bees at the honey farm.

Snake wine. Made with rice wine and herbs for medicinal purposes. Then they put a snake in the bottle. We were offered a taste but there were no takers. The larger bottles had a big spider in them too. The concoction was supposed to be good for the health.
Somebodies version of a baby seat for a motorcycle.

This is one of the smaller boats we had. The girl paddling on the front was in a squating position for about 20 minuits while she paddled us to the resturant. There was a male paddling on the back.

We are pulling in to a busy dock at the resturant.
We eventually transferred to a high-speed boat for the trip back to Ho Chi Minh. The sun was just going down as we came close to the city and there were many excellent views. It was a good day.
Later, I went to the bus office to book my bus for up the coast. I paid for the whole thing but I can get off and stay at each of 6 towns and book the next segment when I am ready.
When I got here I took a million dong out of the bank. Its weird to pay 15,000 for a can of pop. I seem to go through it quickly but it was only just over $50.00 in the first place. Today I took out another 2 million.
I am getting on the bus in the morning and going to Mui Ne. It is a short segment, 4 hours.
Enjoy New Years everyone! It is just nuts here. The streets are full of people. The traffic can hardly move anymore. I went out to eat with an Australian family I met here but we came in before 10PM. I will see the new year tomorrow. Need to sleep now.