Mekong Delta

16-21.12.11

Due to all the great things we heard of Mekong Delta (the area end of Mekong river), we decided to rent motorbikes with Antti to get a proper grasp of the place (thanks for the recommendation, Anshumaan!). There are actually only two reasonable means of travel in this region: motorbike and a boat. I suppose bicycle would be ok too, but not excactly our cup of tea :).

We took a bus from Saigon to My Tho, where we stayed for one night while scouting for decent bikes. Then we head out for a four-day exploration trip featuring Vinh Long, Can Tho, Tra Vinh and a slow pace.

Countless bridges to cross (none to be burned). Each and every one breath-taking in their own way. Some spawned sheer horror featuring super narrow two-lane bridges with no side railings, some surprised with their massive size! And of course, I never get tired of being around water.

Navigation was not always a piece of cake (at least not for me) god bless the smartphone 😉

Short but scary. This kind of bridges were my favourites 🙂 Creates an illusion that you are about to fall off your bike.

One of the bigger ones. I start to really understand people who dig motorcycles. The rush of speeding up a huge bridge was one of a kind experience for me.

We took our time, so plenty of hammock- and coffee time.

Have to love the hammock lounges in many coffee shops. BTW no offense, but western kids have nothing on Asian kids in terms of cuteness.

Best part for me were the small jungle roads. Felt really otherworldly. Also stumbled upon couple of dirt/mud roads that proved to be a little too challenging for our bikes… Also, I just love the attention we got in the smaller places. Everyone want’s to say hello and are frantically waving at us. Too bad my level of driving still requires both hands on the controls, for now :).

Stop for the night in Vinh Long (I think) and the only beer place we could find. It featured the correct amount of shadiness and local drunks that had a lot to say. We spoke Finnish while they spoke Vietnamese. For a while it almost felt we understood each other. I guess it’s the silent language of the alcoholically inclined 😉

On we went again in the morning. This was the biggest bridge we crossed on our way to Can Tho. It was quite awesome to give the bike all it had (not a lot) on that rise.

Always time to soak in the views. Too bad the photos never do justice to them.

Where-ever we went, we saw these on-display-cocks. The only reasonable theory I could come up with was that they are obviously not for sale (as they all seemed class-a specimens of cocks) but pimped as stallions to mate with anyone’s chickens, well, anyone’s who could afford their services 😉

Finally in Can Tho we could take a boat ride to see the floating houses and markets nearby. We had the sweetest pair of grannies driving us around. They were laughing and chatting all the time and making gifts out of bamboo for us to take with.

I never get tired of admiring the construction techniques here. On stilts, over water, you name it. Everything is possible, everything works. Meanwhile in Finland we build tank-proof structures that still have an “end-of-life” at only 50 years! Wtf Finland, relax! (Matti, pun intended). Then again, who want’s to take responsibility of anything nowadays?

Cabbage boat. I love cabbage.

One of my wilder dreams features a boat of this kind that I could make a home out of. Cruise around the coasts of Asia. Too bad I’m not so big on fish…

Melons, coconuts, pineapples, all available here. Not to mention beer and other freshments ^^

Mystery yet unsolved (via Google) all the ships seem to have a painting in the front (face of a sea monster?) I would assume it is some kind of a protective decoration, as it was almost with no exception on all boats we saw. Whatever for, it’s fraking awesome!

What a way of life, I must declare. Just being here makes me question my previous choices in life. It is written all over these peoples’ faces. The joy of life, despite all the hardships (or maybe just because of those) these people really know how to cherish all the things they have in life. It could be so simple. But for us westerners, as we just don’t have any real problems (no, we don’t so don’t even try). How could we know the happiness that lies in the small things we all take for granted?

I remember thinking “I will never go back to my old life, will I?”

Steel-pipe factory. The running water hardens the stacked steel pipes.

Madventures, anyone? I love this guy ❤

The gifts. We both got this hanging shrimp(?), a ring, a bracelet and a flower 🙂 (shortlived though, as they broke down once dry. Should learn how to enjoy things while they last.)

A unique Vietnamese bride we ran into on the road. Asian girls really enjoy being photographed. No surprise 🙂

Girls getting out of school. Imagine some foreign man in Finland parking their motorbike in front of a school to take pictures! 😀

Simple life, good life. World crisis? Ecomonical meltdown? What in the world are you rambling about?

Drove past a funeral parade. Note to anyone close enough to me. When I go, I want to go big.

Ghost rider

Major renovation. Wish I could be a part of it. It is easy to beat up an engineer, impossible to beat the tech out of an engineer.

Helmet shop. Granted, they probably are not CE-marked but who the frak cares? Cool is what they are.

Carbon eggs. I can only assume these are local coal plants. Coolest I ever saw.

Minor declaration about climate change: stfu about it already. The climate and the planet have always changed and evolved, always persisted. We are NOT destroying the planet, only ourselves. The planet has nothing to worry about. It’s us humans who are going away.

One of the many ferry rides. This one already on the way back to My Tho to return the bikes and start to make our way out of ‘nam to Cambodia. 🙂

Naturally on the last minute we got screwed taking a bus to the border. As I said earlier, don’t trust the folks at the hotels. We excessively overpaid for a local bus and had to sit on the stairs by the door 😀

Xmas is drawing near, follow the star!

Awesome manually controlled (the rope) ventilation system, featuring an atrium and two big-ass fans. In Chau Doc, our first choice to cross the border.

In the end we decided we want to see Kep in Cambodia first, so we took a bus, this time with legit price, to Ha Tian that is closer to Kep. This was only because we didn’t trust the folks at any hotel anymore, as they told us no local buses are going there (Daa) we walked around until Antti spotted a bus that, no surprise, said “Ha tien”. We spoke with the driver and got two tickets with the local price (we saw everyone else paying it too). And we got actual seats ^^

The handy way to serve take-away beverages in asia. Who want’s a cumbersome carton cup with unconvenient plastic lid when you can drink straight from a bag? Also, no need for a cup holder in a car or in a bus. Just tie it anywhere you want!

This is the last of Vietnam. Took me two weeks to take my liking in this place. Next time will be better. Cambodia, here I come!