Not much happened the rest of the day I last posted. In the evening I had some nice, cheap "Pho" (meaning "noodles") which is a Vietnamese speciality and you find everywhere. Whilst there I met some Vietnamese girls and we went to a bar, but only for 2 drinks as I knew I had to be up early for my day trip to the Mekong Delta, so I went to bed quite early.

Woke up at 6.45 the next morning in time for a 7.30 bus and was there by 7.25 to be safe. The bus on the other hand didn't turn up until 7.50. I'm used to late transport by now though and 20 minutes isn't that bad compared to previous experiences so let it pass. What I'm not yet used to however is what happened next... This bus only drove for about 30 seconds, before stopping and dropping me off just 50m down the road where I was told to wait for my bus. So I waited, and was picked up by another bus at 8.10. I'm ready to go now, but where am I going? Back to where I started! And here I had to wait until 8.30 when I was finally picked up by the right bus.

We drove for about an hour, caught a half hour ferry and then boarded our boat for the day. We visited 3 islands during the day. On the first they were making coconut candy, the samples we were given on arrival were quite nice even though I don't like coconut. They were freshly made and still hot and sticky. We left here and went through a little canal which I really liked and our boat driver stopped and climbed in the trees just above the water to get some water coconuts. On the next island we had our lunch. Pork and rice followed by a fruit plate each with loads of different fruits on. Whilst we ate we had the 'pleasure' of some of the locals playing/singing traditional Vietnamese music to us. Then it was through another canal where there were people rowing their little boats to get to the final island. Here is where they make honey tea which we sampled, nice and sweet. There was a snake there too which most people were afraid to go near, some touched, and I was the only person to hold on my own! There was a littl river where I fed lychee to some catfish.

We stopped off at a bonzai garden on the way back, a few monkeys in cages which was really sad, the cages were so small. I gave one monkey a banana and it swung at me! But another monkey was so sweet, it would put its hand out and when you held it it would hold you back, just looking really sad and trapped. Once back in the main city I went for a walk. There were some massive traffic jams of motorbikes which I watched for a while and then escaped with a walk in the park. The Vietnamese are really into their badminton and when I was in the park at about 9pm there were still 10's of people playing, just couples hitting back and forth. I was approached by a girl wanting to improve her English so we talked for a while. She was really friendly and introduced me to her sister as well and gave me her number saying she could ride me round the city the next day if I wanted to go anywhere, I just had to call. I told her where I was staying too so she could pick me up if necessary. I left there and went to a bar where I met 4 Ozzies. They were older, in their 30's, but really nice people. I ended up staying in the bar talking with the Ozzies and one of the barmaids until 2am. The walk home was only about 100m, but even in that short space someone tried to rob me (again, certain mothers/grandmothers will worry now) by jumping off their bike and going for my pocket. I held them off though and they soon left me alone.

I was awoken the next morning by the phone in my room ringing. It was Luong (the girl from the night before) in reception! Had a quick shower before hopping on her bike for some sight-seeing. We visited the Fine Arts Museum first, followed by the Notre Dame Cathedral, a really old building with really new ones in the background. The Vietnamese really don't like the midday sun, to the extent that if they see a traffic light is red, they will wait in the shade 20/30m back from the lights. It really confused me the first time, I thought maybe there was a strange law or imaginary lights! Then we went to a cafe where I had bangers and mash! We tried to go bowling but it was full so we played some arcade games in stead and on the game where you have to punch a punch bag I got the top score! They dropped me back at my hotel at 4 as I had arranged to meet the 4 Ozzies and 2 of the barmaids from the night before.

We went to Ben Thanh market where I was tempted into 2 more DVD's (very cheap here) and got a couple of bathroom essentials. They bought some bits too and got some presents for the 2 bar girls as they earn so little. When they first said to one girl to choose something she said "I don't want anything, I only want to be with you and I'm happy." So sweet! We sat down for dinner and Mark ordered crab soup and when it came it had something in which we weren't sure what it was. One of the bar girls had a pocket translater so she typed in the Vietnamese while we all waited in suspense before the word appeared... "BLOOD!" I tried some sugar cane juice which the Vietnamese seem to love. We had a couple of beers before heading to a bar for a couple more! It was good fun there, laughing and joking and we decided on spur of the moment to go to a Karaoke Bar! It was really funny, we were in a room of our own and the music was really loud. An even mix of Vietnamese and English songs to choose between, though none after about 1995! I got a 98% for one of my performances but then again Andy got 2x 100% for his Vietnamese singing so maybe the marking was random! When I got back to my room I had to face the same dilemma as I did every night. When using the bathroom, I have a choice... I can do it in the dark, which isn't so easy. Or, I can do it with the light on... but suffer the electric shock I get every time I press the light switch! I think that time I took the shock.

I filled myself the next lunchtime with a pasta and spaghetti buffet which was good, I watched some football too and stayed the buffet's length ensuring my moneys worth! There was a job advertisement which I enquired about and was offered the job there and then! But at 2 pounds a day I had to decline. I spent the rest of the day wandering and having the occasional fruit shake/beer. Andy and Mark were in the bar all day and when I went past at about 4pm they were luring customers in (and actually doing a better job than the people who work there!) I called Luong in the evening and she picked me up to go bowling. I didn't do too badly after a long bowling absence, getting 107 and 130.

I was picked up from my hotel again the next day by Luong and her sister and we went to a waterpark for the day. It was really cool; there were some ropeswings that I fell from awkwardly a few times resulting in a bright red back, but also pulled some backflips from, a 19m vertical slide, some dark tubes that you go down on an inflatable ring really fast, some slides you go down head first on a mat and skim really far across the water at the bottom, a wave pool and a lazy river, among others. We had a really fun day! We had dinner afterwards and then dropped her sister off. I found a shop called "DAN" but couldn't get a decent photo whilst riding around the different areas of the city. There's some really nicely lit up buildings, parks and water fountains about. We sat on a wall on the roadside and talked for a bit before saying our last goodbye! She had been really good to take me around everywhere. I went to the same bar afterwards, had a beer and a pancake which was massive and really nice! Talked to the same barmaid again, she was really really nice and such a sweet girl.

This morning I got the bus at 7.30 to where I am now, Mui Ne. I will write about my day today next time though as I'm tired! Goodnight.