Colonel Kurtz's Mekong.....

After three long days in a host of different floating vessels we have finally made our way through the Mekong Delta and up the Mekong river to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Our time in the Delta was spent visiting some of the local cottage industries such as coconut confectionery and rice paper factories. The most visually interesting process we saw was the making of "Rice Krispies" (same idea as the Kellogg's brand). The rice husks are thrown into a huge wok filled with very hot black sand, after a couple of seconds and a lot of loud snap, crackles and pops white rice bubbles appear from beneath the black sand.

This fertile region is known as Vietnam's rice basket as it produces most of Vietnam's rice supplies. The area also produces large quantities of sugar cane, fruit, coconut and fish. We walked through some dense fruit farms with very ripe mangos precariously hanging high above. The delta contains a network of small canals which the locals commute through in small rowing boats. Daily floating markets are the hub of the community, lots of boats gather each specialising in a veg, fruit or ware and sell to the local people who row around doing their shopping. Each boat displays what their selling by perching their fruit or veg up on a large stick.
A huge variety of vessels ply the waterways here....one thing they all have in common is that they are steered by the foot of a captain very comfortably reclined...in a hammock if available.

April has been a hot and humid month in the Delta and rain that was badly needed was forecast during our time there. As the guide predicted the rains came down in a torrential downpour that last 45 minutes and are followed by blue skies. We got caught out in a small boat with only flimsy sun curtains to shelter from the almost horizontal rain.

On the last day of the trip we were rowed around in a small boat to see some of the floating fish farms. Families live in houses above their fish farms which are floated on plastic drums. Some of the farms contain as much as 150,000 fish at any given time, throwing some fish food in creates a feeding frenzy.

After a four boat trip we finally reached the Cambodian border. After the usual delays and bureaucracy we transferred over to yet another boat for two and a half hours. By the time we were aboard a bus to Phnom Penh we'd decided to steer well clear of boats for the next few days.

Phnom Penh is lively, busy and extremely hot. Over the past couple of days we've been enjoying dry land and checking out some of the local sights and markets.