Mrs Brown, you’ve got a lovely daughter.

Sunday.

“You very lovely. You have big breasts.” No we weren’t watching the X-rated channel on TV. This is what was said to one of us today. Read on……

Thuong, who will be our ‘host’, arrives to collect us from the hotel and take us to the Saigon River Express boat waiting for us. We end up in a group of 11, the 6 of us, a very westernised Chinese couple, an older American man, his son and the son’s friend. The manager Phuong tells us we can pay by card, so hooray, we can save our cash, which has evaporated quicker than we expected this trip.

Manager Mr Phuong

Chau is to be our ‘guide’ and she is another lovely Vietnamese girl who was born in the north and has worked this job for 2 years. Before that, she used to guide Vietnamese tourists to Thailand – Bangkok and Pattaya, one of the few we have met who have travelled outside their country. The speedboat is fitted with a 200hp Mercury motor, and along for the ride, apart from No 1 captain, is an engineer which is a bit of a worry until Chau tells us that it’s not uncommon for the prop to get tangled in river weed or the odd fishing net. The engineer will deal with these issues should they arise.

We take the 2^nd river to the right from the main Saigon River and hit the throttle, this boat CAN go! We slow at times because we pass riverside houses, other boats who we might otherwise swamp, the water police office or boat, or large patches of water hyacinth which can hide all sorts of submerged obstacles. We are offered drinks and some fruit.

Our first stop is a Buddhist temple with ‘happy house’ that we are allowed to use. Squats. Oh well, at least they’re clean. Back to the boat for more drinks, some delicious iced coffee and a croissant before our next stop, a local riverside market. We are well off the tourist trail now and we are greeted by many curious looks but the people are very friendly, they might see a small group of ‘whities’ most days but the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. Trevor finds a large sized pair of chopsticks used for cooking and for only 30,000dong he gets them. The Chinese lady buys a round wooden chopping board for a few dollars, very nice. The children here love to have their photo taken and a pair of little girls that we see in one part of the market pop up again to pose for us. They’re cute and so funny.

These 2 cut across the market to see us again!

We walk round the market, down a side street and over the ricketty sounding bridge that we had walked under in the market. No wonder the Pope kisses the ground after a flight! I felt like doing the same, although I’m sure it’s quite a sturdy bridge, it just makes a lot of noise.

Continuing upriver, we are disembarked for a short walk (2km) along a small tributary to see some local rural life. The engineer also comes in handy for lending a steadying hand on and off the boat. It’s Sunday so no school for the kids and they all come running when they hear our voices, although they don’t venture past their front boundary. Chau says it’s ok to take photos of them. It's along this walk that one of the princesses, I'm not permitted to say which one, asks Thuong (who is 25 BTW) to take a photo for her. He gets close to see the explanation of how the camera works and whispers in her ear what you read above. To say she was shocked would be an understatement!! But we all got one of the best laughs of the day!! Not sure if the princess was flattered or stunned, probably a bit of both! She certainly didn't expect such a 'compliment'.

Lunch at the Kung-Fu school

One of 2 whole fish for lunch

The sun is so hot away from the breeze on the river, but we are loaned brollies to shade us. They think of everything. Back to the boat and head upstream to another village where we will be having lunch. No tourists come here as a regular thing, so there are no 'tourist' restaurants, and the local restaurant is not 'safe' for tourists, so Chau tells us. They have an arrangement with the Kung-Fu school to use their community room to set up tables and serve lunch. The chef rides her motorbike 2hrs each way from Saigon to prepare our food. We start with fresh spring rolls, sour soup which isn't sour at all but very tasty, followed by steamed rice, a fish dish and a chicken dish. We are nearly full already when we are presented with 2 whole fish, deep fried so that the scales are edible too. OMG!! How many people were they expecting??

Chau tells us to save room for dessert..........More food!!?? A fruit platter is dessert and the pineapple is a bigger fruit down here in the south and the salt to sprinkle on it has more chilli in it, so watch out. The papaya is good too. Not wanting to sound ungrateful for all the wonderful food we've eaten, but I miss the food in Hoi An, I think it's been the best so far. Love the Cao Lau, but you can only get it in Hoi An.

Another visit to the happy house and lunch is over. We take a very short walk to the Cao Dai temple, and it's so colourful and happy, and the basic principles of this religion are so appealing, we think we may all convert! 

Cao Dai Temple

Every time we get back on board, we are offered cold drinks and refresher towels. They have taken such good care of us all day, we are happy travellers. The captain turns the boat for home and we are exhausted, even Tina. Some find the room to curl up for a siesta and it's a quiet trip back.

Nap time - every man for himself!

We are delivered back to the Duxton and go to our rooms for a cool off and freshen up. I'm keen to go to a fabric shop we saw up near the Ben Thanh markets and Anke wants to have a look as well. The princesses want to go into the markets and Trevor wants to check out a stingray keycase he saw earlier, so off we go, leaving Bob to rest up. I find some nice fabric, 60 000 dong per metre, so cheap!! We end up splitting up and don't plan to meet up again till breakfast tomorrow. Trevor and I go back to the first night market food place and have the coconut prawns, the princesses go to the Barbeque Garden and Bob and Anke find a spot to eat close to the hotel. A good day was had by all.