Day 10 - Vietnam Discovery from Hanoi to the Meekong Delta - 'Inside Vietnam' adventure with EXPLORE

Day 10 - Hoi An to the Mekong Delta

I woke up many times in the night, looked at my phone, Midnight......1am......2:30am......3:30am.....I might as well get up.  I was pretty excited to go flying today. This is the longest travel day of the journey.  We made our way today from the Central coastal region at Hoi An down to Ho Chi Minh / Saigon.

We assembled in the lobby and bags loaded onto the bus by 5am from a dark reception, the hotel staff member was still sleeping on the sofas in reception when I came down.  We all quietly said good morning, took our packed lunches, just like a school trip and settled on the bus and we set off for the airport.

The beachside at Da Nang as we passed through at 5:30am had hundreds if not over a thousand locals on the beach it seemed, group exercising, swimming or working out.  They're very active very early here and quite the sight to behold at this time of morning.  Obviously, part of the nation psyche here in Vietnam.

At Da Nang airport it was fairly quiet, we were through check-in and security in no time at all.  Sadly, they had blinds down obscuring the views of the planes and runway, so I was unable to do any decent plane spotting.  However, once we boarded our 7:45am flight to Saigon it's was Avgeek happy hour, I had about sixty of 70 photos and videos taken by the time we disembarked in Saigon!

There was plenty of great aviation action out of the window, so I was very happy indeed.  Being in this part of the world seeing airlines and aircraft I never see in the UK was awesome to say the least.  On our taxi to take-off, I spotted a whole bunch of Vietnam war era Russian-built fighter jets hidden from public view in hardened bunkers, MIG-17, MIG-19, MIG-21.  I think even some rare twin seater trainer versions.  Such a shame to see them hidden away as the national museums here or even around the world would be much better places to preserve this aviation history.

In just over an hour of flight and we landed in Saigon.  Graham and Morag were with me in my row and kindly shuffled seats before take-off so I could have the window seat, thank you!!!!  With our bags collected we boarded minibus #3 of the trip, although this time it was an unexpected, upgraded transport, VIP/Executive wording adoring the footwell.  There was even a DJ mixing desk on the panel behind the driver although we're not the crowd for a rave on our way from A to B I think.

We disembarked the luxurious and powerfully air-conditioned executive transportation and made our way to our river boat.  Overnight bags with us as it was not possible for our big luggage to be with us on our journey along the Mekong Delta.  We then pushed off an motored our way down river to our  homestay on Tam Hiep Island.

It was a fascinating journey by boat which took us around 20 minutes from our mainland dock.  A colourful variety of river going vessels  passed in both directions, we saw many a riverside businesses working away.  As with some other locations on this trip, my mind thought of the soldiers on both sides of the war as we travelled through this intriguing countryside.

  
We were greeted at the dock of the homestay on the island by the owners five dogs, running along the shore to the jetty ready to vet every arrival.  They sniffed allcomers, our identities logged, they escorted us to the homestay. The homestay is perched on the banks of the river and had a very rustic feel to it.

It's a large wooden building with a vaulted ceiling, an ornately decorated main hall, large, hefty carved wooden furniture and a grandfather clock against the wall.  There is a long veranda facing the river, with plenty of tables and chairs, where our dining and drinking would take place until our departure tomorrow morning.

We had a couple of hours to rest and refresh in the oppressive heat and humidity.  Our rooms are on the rustic side let's say.  After posting on Instagram that I had no air con as I thought it was broken, I found that locating the A/C main power changes that!  There's a mosquito net hung above the bed to which the sight of already has me scratching.

The shower and facilities are outside the room in a private area but still outside!  I never managed to get hot water to work but freezing cold showers here are really appealing anyway.  It with some amusement that we find out that the ladies in the group, however, have all got rooms with indoor plumbing.

We ventured out on an island familiarisation trip this afternoon and that started with a walk through the trees and fields behind our homestay.  We made it to the main road and heaved ourselves up onto two vehicles, part motorbike, part truck, part transformer and scooted our way at a decent pace along the newly constructed island road, ducking at the right times to avoid overhanging trees.  A nice cooling rush of air is always appreciated in this heat as we motored down the road.  We came to a stop and we were taken into a family-owned green leaf farm for some harvesting.

The leaves here are used to make all sorts of lotions and potions, from jelly to purifying face masks.  The group even got to go pick some to see how it's all done, adorned with traditional Vietnamese wicker hats.  Today we really packed in a lot of experiences and to be fair this fast pace is really exciting.  Before we knew it, we were back on our transformers and off and away again. 

We came to our next stop and it was time for our next plank walk, this time to board three low draft river boats.  We were taken on a boat journey through the reeds and trees on a narrow back water channel fed from the main river.  The branches were low hanging and our three boats skimmed their way for a while, navigating the narrow channel, until we come to a stop to have some lunch.

The kind older lady whose house it is ever so kind and generous, you put your cup or plate down and it was refilled over and over.  'You so handsome' she says to Nick.  This brought much laughter all around.  There are two guys called Nick in our group, so I’ll call him by his other name, Chef Malibu.  We think we embarrassed her a little as she felt compelled moments later to say ' You handsome/pretty' to the rest of our table, one by all, but all done with a smile. 

We walked back to the river and to the big boat and back to the homestay to relax and prepare for tonight’s dinner.  And as with all dinners and meals in Vietnam there was mountains of amazing and fragrant food to consume.  The kitchens here are open plan and the brick-lined walls behind the hobs are blackened from the heat and smoke over the years.  The flames for the cooking come from wood burning so there is a wonderful burnt smell as the smoke filled the kitchen.  We played a tiny part in tonight’s feast and took turns to pour pancake mix into the woks one after the other.  We were even allowed to make a disaster of the pancake flip.

Out on the veranda we enjoyed our meals with a few drinks and admired the lightning storm way over the other side of the Mekong river.  We were also treated after dinner to a short concert of local songs from four local performers, two of them playing traditional Vietnamese instruments.  A few of us remained after the mini-concert for the daily discussions of worldly events and issues of the day whilst the storm still flashed with a distant power, orange flashes lighting up the sky.

Back to my room and ah, I trod on a slug and turned around and instantly created a humane escape plan for the frog sitting on my window ledge, seemingly somewhat annoyed I think that I had returned. The ants seemed to have retired for the evening after a hard day running around my room.  The moths and flies are all sitting and relaxing on top of the mosquito net waiting for their dinner.  The mosquito net, ah yes.... where are you, you little...... ?

Hunkered under the netting and having strategically placed items to minimise entry points for the evil little blighters, it was 11pm and I rested my head back and anxiously wondered how I would cope with not sleeping one wink within the walls of this lively zoo, anticipating the buzz of my little enemies?