slow boat to saigon

we woke on saturday morning in chau doc and went for a wander through the huge street market before breakfast, which we got at a stall across the road from the restaurant, rice with a thin pork steak that was freshly char grilled, served with a yummy spicy sauce and a little salad.

we were picked up by a driver and headed off for our slow boat which was waiting for us in Long Xuyen, we arrived about lunch time and met our guide for the next couple of days, kiet. we headed out in the small boat and kiet explained that we were the only guests on the good ship “Le Conchinchine” – a boat 80′ long with 3 decks, 12 cabins  and 4 crew!!

we got comfortable and then headed off down the mighty mekong river towards Sa Dec, we had a delicious lunch of banana flower salad with shredded chicken followed by fried bread pork parcels, which I suspect were a bit fattening! never mind, because ahead of us was a 12km ride through flower growing villages outside Sa Dec.

first we disembarked into the small boat and went across  the river to look at some brick kilns, the driveshaft promptly fell apart and we started drifting downriver, kiet and I managed to paddle across to the kilns while the driver hung upside down over the motor trying to fix the drive shaft!

we rejoined the big boat and motored off down the mekong, its a magical thing travelling down a big river slowly on a large boat, there is plenty of time to take all the sights in, a lovely breeze keeps you cool, people yell out to you from the banks, you can move around, snooze, or play hide and seek with the crew!

we then unloaded the bikes and set off for Sa Dec where the big boat would meet us, it was absolutely magical, we rode mainly on quiet concrete paths through the shady villages, winding our way through the beautiful nurseries  of flowers that these villages are famous for. it was late afternoon and a lovely temperature for a leisurely ride!

we dropped the bikes back at the boat at the sa dec wharf and then had a quick wander through the nightmarkets, before setting off to steam down river to our night anchorage, we sat up on the top deck watching the sun go down, sipping a beer while sal had a foot massage at the same time from one of the crew!

market in sa dec

dinner was served after our cocktails in the dining deck, we had a delicate soup first, just vegetables but really tasty, next we had calamari, this was followed by rice with stir fried vegies, sweet and sour pork and a whole fish done in a tomato chilli sauce.

following dinner we had a few games of poker with the crew before retiring to our huge cabins for a well earned rest!