In contrast to yesterday, the ship arrived into the port of Phu My in hot sunshine and clear blue skies. It was an early start for us as we were booked on a three hour drive across the country to explore a small part of the Mekong delta. Phu My is the main seaport for Saigon. (Yes, I know it says Ho Chi Minh city in the atlas but everyone refers to Vietnam's largest city as Saigon.)
The main route from the port to the city is a good one and because Saigon is the regional commercial centre, there is a lot more traffic on the roads, both four wheeled and two wheeled. This increases the fear factor for us passengers tenfold but fortunately in some stretches there is a mopeds only lane and on the expressways, bikes are not permitted at all. Therefore our small group of six, plus guide in our minivan, could make relatively quick progress where the infrastructure allowed.
As we neared Saigon, the number of bikes grew exponentially. Traffic lights, in many cases, seemed to be for decoration only and anyone attempting to cross the road at a zebra crossing must have some kind of death wish. There also seemed to be a competition as to who could carry the most dangerous and unwieldy load....amongst those spotted were;
A ten foot stepladder....being carried sideways,
Six medium sized gas canisters,
Eight large water containers (it would have been ten, but the driver appeared to have lost a couple a little way down the road),
A load of hay so large that he was having trouble keeping balance, never mind negotiating the traffic,
A family of five...two adults, two children and mum holding a baby,
Three on the bike carrying a 42 inch television screen ( but not in its box).
The financial district of Saigon has a skyline to match any reasonably sized city with a skyscraper or two reaching well over 50 stories. However, the older quarters are a maze of choked streets with, for example, an ornate pagoda sandwiched between a coffee shop and a bike repair shop, people milling everywhere and the usual swarm of mopeds. There is also a fair amount of construction work going on in the suburbs although much of it appears to be the featureless apartment blocks so beloved by communist governments.
Eventually we reached our destination on the Mekong river and we were ferried up and down a stretch of the muddy water, dodging all the other river traffic, both large and small. We passed the fishing fleet, barges carrying everything from sand to coconuts and viewed the ramshackle houses on stilts that lined the riverbank. Across from the boat station we disembarked onto a small island where we first had some of the local tea (made with honey and cinnamon), fresh tropical fruits and a little later, some lunch. Lunch was typically Vietnamese - fish (known as elephants ear fish as that is was said to resemble although after a couple of cans of the local brew it could have looked like anything), rice, prawns, noodle and vegetable soup and a delicious deep fried rice cake of pure stodge.
Before returning to our boat we were taken in groups of three on a small rowing boat along the Mekong backwaters and amongst the dense, watery, jungle foliage. Intrepid explorers indeed!
All too soon we were back at the boat station and had a few minutes to hunt for souvenirs. I found a nice t-shirt and had no option but to put my hand in my pocket and get out my Dong. (The Dong is the Vietnamese unit of currency you smutty people).
The long drive back to the ship was no less interesting and no less hair raising. We passed a local wedding party with the bride all dressed in red (as red is considered to be a lucky colour in the country) and the views of the locals toiling in the rice paddies were iconic. Interestingly, many paddy fields contain gravestones which look very out of place. However it seems that local custom says that if you are a landowner then you can be buried anywhere you like within your property.
We returned to the ship around 5.30pm and the sun was already setting, so after a shower and a change and watching the sailaway from the top deck we were armed with many stories to swap with our fellow travellers over dinner.
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