We took a slow boat down the Mekong and stopped at the small immigration office of Cambodia, then were asked to unload from the boat in 'No Man's Land' and walk ourselves into Vietnam. And with that, we were on to the next leg of our journey, and with a full month visa in hand! We had already started our 4 day tour of the Mekong Delta which would finish in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). It was immediately evident on crossing the border, that Vietnam is a much more affluent country with respect to Cambodia and Laos.
First stop, Chau Doc, with it's stilt houses and tall TV antennas from every single rooftop. We were rowed around in one of these boats, stopping at a floating fish farm with cages underneath. Mostly, it seems that it is the women that work these funky rowing boats - something we had not seen much of in Cambodia or Laos, where the women work the fields and tend to the house and family. Note the pyjama outfit, but more on that later...
We visited a Cham village (a minority people here in the Delta) where they are famous for beautiful weaving. Then from Chau Doc, it was a few hours drive onto Can Tho - another big town. Near the waterfront in Can Tho, we checked out the giant Ho Chi Minh statue, or Uncle Ho, as he is called here. Since 1973, the South Vietnamese really had no choice but to show respect to their new Communist government. The statue looked a bit like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz! *Stub
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