Our first couple of weeks in Vietnam, we paddle down the Mekong in a downpour, Robin gets ill and we find out if the Perfume River really smells...

We flew into HoChiMinh (Saigon) City from Bangkok, after a "tough" week on the beach in Koh Samet, Thailand.

We expected the City to be just crazy busy, based on what we heard from people and read in the guide books. Well, it was busy, but not nearly as bad as what we thought. We spent a day touring the City and dodging the bicycles and scooters across five/six lanes of traffic. Can't imagine what it will be like when all the scooters become cars!

Here's a photo of the HoChiMinh City Post Office, which is a very grand building, with a large portrait of Uncle Ho staring down at the people...The architecture in HCMC is very interesting too, the buildings can be extremely narrow.

We then decided to take a three day bus/boat tour of the Mekong Delta. Tours in Vietnam are cheap, mainly because they want to have the tourists where they want you..Our tour consisted of a series of bus and boat rides down the Mekong and tributaries with stops at various "factories" that (surprise) doubled as gift shops! Very enterprising folks. We are now experts in the raising of crocodiles, making rice paper, making coconut candy, raising fish, and husking rice.

The tours of small canals were pretty cool, the size of the Mekong River here is much larger and more industrial than it was when we took the slow boat down to Luang Prabang.

We visited a floating market on the River where people sold their veggies and fruit from low barges. You can tell what's for sale by what's hanging on the bamboo pole on the boat (note foreground of photo for example). Here, we got some pineapple which was very tasty.

Here's a shot of the temple we visited located on a large hillside.

On the last day of the tour, we were treated to an open rowboat ride in the pouring rain. After two hours of paddling around seeing some more "factories" we were soaked to the bone. We then had to spend another four hours on a "luxury" (their term, I swear!) boat back to a bus for another four hour ride to HCMC. The deluge continued for another two hours, with visibility down to about 10 meters and lightning all around. The four Australians and the two of us on the tour were reduced to doing a song and dance to the Gilligan's Island theme (Matt was Gilligan) - talk about gallows humor.

We made it back to the hotel in HoChiMinh City just in the nick of time before Robin really hit rock bottom. Since Robin was ill, we opted for a short flight to Danang, then hired a car to take us to HoiAn.

HoiAn is a World Heritage Site and a great place to just hang out and have clothes and shoes custom made! A very cool combination. We had some satin pyjamas made for both of us, Robin had a pair of shoes, pants, and skirt and Matt had a dress shirt made also. All for about 10$ a piece. It was a luxury that you can get used to. Here's a photo of Robin with her PJ's and the shop owner.

This is a picture of the typical architecture in HoiAn.

We met up with our friends from Lao, Nick and Lou, who were also getting clothes tailored and enjoyed touring round the city with them on pedal bikes.
Here are some photos of the things we saw: bamboo bridge, boats on Thu Bon River, and cyclos ready for hire.

From HoiAn, we set off by bus to Hue, home of the Perfume River and the Citadel as well as several monuments outside of the City. We toured the monuments by motorbike, hiring a guided tour with Cafe on Thu Wheels, a great establshment run by Minh Toan Thu and her brothers. We really had a nice day with them. Here's Robin on the motorbike with her guide (Matt got to drive a bike on his own). Along the way we saw: monks praying, roadside incense stick stand, a Japanese style bridge built in 1776, an elephant statue, and finally, Robin at the Tu Duc tomb site.

Tonight, we'll take an overnight train (our first train ride!) to Ninh Binh, a small town where we will visit the Cuc Phuong National Park, known for its primate center.