There's no better way to end or start a Vietnam adventure than at the end of the Mekong River. Here is where it makes its final journey after over 4000 kilometers. If you dip your thermometer into some of the people, they'll be the warmest you'll find. This is also Vietnam's rice basket, producing half of Vietnam's rice output. If you're looking for river fish, you'll find that in droves too, since this is where they farm all that basa and catfish that even gets exported to the U.S. We then headed upstream to make our first ever border crossing by boat. One of the quietest in all of Southeast Asia.
Here's rice used in a variety of ways: rice paper for those tasty rolls, popped into Vietnam's coconut milk and palm sugar version of the rice crispy treat, and the culprit for a group of rowdy Vietnamese men - rice wine.
But this factory not only limits itself to rice products, it also makes some sticky sweet, taffy-like coconut candy.
Fish factories float throughout the delta. Here's a bunch of basa competing for food.
With so many islands and water level variation depending on the season, ferries are the best way to get across sometimes.
We opted for dinner at a local open air spot complete with fresh Russian beer on tap! We didn't BBQ any of these guys for dinner. They are raised at a nearby farm.
Here's your view in the morning when you sleep on a floating hotel. Don't plan on sleeping too long, the loud engines of the long tail boats will give you an early start.
Before leaving Vietnam, we stopped at a local Cham village. Arab traders came into contact with the Chams as early as the 6th century, bringing Islam to Indochina. To this day, the southern Cham people are practicing Muslims.
Our final stop at Ving Xuong, Vietnam to get our exit stamp and head to Phnom Penh by boat. Tam biet, Vietnam!
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