Sunday 2nd March 2008

We had internet in our room last night and i'm happy to say I was able to follow the progress of Bristol City storming to the top of the Championship. After waking up in a very good mood, we had some breakfast and then waited outside our guest house for our bus. We were going on another tour - to the Mekong Delta - and this time it was an overnight trip (I can't wait to see where Mum and Keith have to sleep).

The first part of the tour involved driving to a place called Cai Be, where we boarded a boat and sailed the Mekong River to a place called Vinh Long and the An Binh islands. Here we got to visit a coconut sweet factory and then moved onto another island where we had lunch. To get there, we had to get in small boats and locals rowed us through the maze of small canals. After lunch all four of us borrowed bikes and went for a cycle around the local village. We didn't go too far because the bikes weren't very safe and nor were the roads!

At about 3pm we got back on our boat and traveled back to the mainland, where we had to catch a bus for a three-hour journey to a place called Can Tho. This was where everyone was going to be staying, but the four of us had paid extra to stay in a local village on a home-stay. When everyone else walked to their hotel, we were bundled into a taxi and driven to this tiny little port area where we got on a small boat, driven by a little old man who didn't seem to care when he kept smashing it in to the pillars on a rickety old bridge. The sun was setting now and we had a lovely peaceful cruise down the river before arriving in our village.

No sooner had we got out of our boat, the family were all over us. Their place seems like it's in the middle of nowhere and I don't think they get many visitors. They had prepared a great spread of food for us and were really excited about our company - fussing over us and offering us more rice or pumpkin soup. We had a great time and even Mum tried some of the Vietnamese food. After tea, we sat around chatting under the stars before asking to be shown to our 'rooms'. Ours was just a hut above the river and our bed a pile of wafer thin mattresses on the floor, with just a mosquito net for company. Mum and Keith had more walls than us - they had four, and they even had a bed, although I think we got the better deal because they didn't have the thin mattresses - so for them it was like sleeping on a table - ha ha.

Night night Mum and Keith... Sweet dreams!