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Our last destination in Vietnam before heading into Cambodia was the Mekong Delta. Much to my dismay, I had to accept that the easiest and cheapest way to see the Mekong is on a package tour. At $34 for 3 days/2 nights including breakfast, hotel, and taking us into Cambodia, you really couldn't beat the price. I will say though, you get what you pay for. In Saigon Pham Ngu Lao Road was lined with tour offices all offering the same tour for the same price. How to choose? Honestly it doesn't matter which tour company one chooses, because they all get funneled down to the same bus. A couple on our bus went to two different agencies and talked to the same girl! We went with the one across from the Bia Hoi 33- location is everything right? The next three days were spent experiencing Mekong life, floating markets, cheesy yet fun touristy stops, our guide Bang singing in English, boats, good food, and the best part- incredible company. Definitely another incredible part of our already incredible trip.

Cruising Down and Up the Mekong

Casey Lary
2007-04-21 23:25:42

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Being New Year's Eve, we all went around and talked about the past year and what were the most important parts of 2006. For me:
1) Deciding to stay in Japan
2) Falling in love
3) Travel
4) Getting my heart broken.

Around 6 we FINALLY made it to land, then were on a bus for another 45 minutes into Phnom Penh. Antsy as hell to get there, we passed the time with some fun road trip games. I also informed everyone I had less than 6 hours to find someone to kiss at midnight and I needed their help. A Dutch couple was on our van. They were in for quite a surprise with all of us! We got to Phnom Penh around 7 and were in search of meeting up with fellow couchsurfer Adi, and finding a hotel. In Phnom Penh there were motos, but also tuk tuks- similar to the ones in Thailand. All the places we went were booked and ended up going to the J Hotel, at the steep price of 20 bucks. We were on our way to the Foreign Correspondence Club to meet up with the crew and ran into Adi in the street! Lois was our gracious guide and took us to a local Khmer restaurant for dinner, and tried to order me shark/turtle/something-weird soup. Walking back to the river to watch the fireworks at midnight, we
passed these huge barrels that had a keg-like apparatus attached to the top. Indeed, I thought it was a keg. I was thinking Cambodians had it right with beer stands along the streets. To my dismay, they were petrol stations!

It was a memorable New Years meeting up with the Mekong Crew and a few additions. First we saw the fireworks over the river and all were exchanging kisses (the French Candadians threw me off with the double thing!) We took over a bar and Lisa tried to pawn me off to some cute personality-less Dutch boys. After that bar a few of us went to a club called Elsewhere, that was more like a house party. Lois and I decided ordering champagne was a great idea. We danced a bit, and almost jumped in the pool. It was a great New Years with all of our new friends.

We left the Mekong Delta and Vietnam behind, heading to explore Cambodia. We were left with very fond memories of the Mekong, can you believe all that happened in just three days?