Cruising along the Mekong River 湄公河上暢遊

A tour down the Mekong River seems like a must if you’re visiting Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam. Although I wasn’t too keen on it, my only other option for a day trip was the Cu Chi Tunnels and I didn’t fancy crawling around the tunnels in the heat.
到越南胡志明市旅遊，似乎湄公河及古芝地道都是必遊的。 大熱天時我沒什麼興趣在地道裡趴走，所以選擇到湄公河遊覽。

The travel agent told me there were three different tours costing USD12, USD20 and USD30. The actual tour was the same, but on the USD12 one you ride a 30 people coach and spend more time going around picking up people hence less time on the river. Another difference was the ‘simple’ lunch with the USD12 tour, and the ‘good’ lunch on the two other tours. And finally I was told, though I’m sure it was a language thing and she didn’t mean it that way, that there is a difference in the quality of people, and you get more backpackers on the USD12 tour! ? Anyway, here’s the USD20 gang.
旅行社職員向我介紹三個不同價格的一日遊。 12元美金坐30人旅遊車，會花多點時間在市內接載乘客，所以花在湄公河上的時間比較少。 還有20美金和30美金一日遊，後者會乘坐10人小型旅遊車。 另外她說12元美金團友會吃”簡單午餐”，另外兩團會吃”好的午餐”。 最後她說一個不同之處我覺得很有趣，應該是英文程度關係。她說12元團友質素不同，會有較多背包客，? 但我相信她絕沒貶義，只是英文詞匯有限。這是我20元美金的團友。

Before boarding the boat on Mekong River we stopped at the Vinh Trang Pagoda first. This is one of the main temples in the region and is built in an Asian and European architecture style. The big happy buddha was a very welcoming sight outside.
到湄公河前，我們先到永長古寺遊覽，是當地一座著名的寺廟。門外有座巨大笑佛在歡迎來訪的客人。

The other buddha inside the temple looked kinda groovy if you ask me. Not sure if you’ve seen those Buddha theme night clubs before, I half expected to hear music blasting out anytime.
寺廟裏面有另一座佛像，背後掛上彩色光環。感覺像以前有段時間，蠻熱門的佛風酒吧。

After a half an hour pit stop, we boarded our air conditioned boat and did a quick tour around the Mekong Delta before landing on one of the islands.
短暫停留後，我們坐船遊覽湄公河，然後在其中一個小島上岸。

Our first stop on the island was to visit the coconut candy factory which I wrote about the other day. Here is our guide explaining the manufacturing process. If you haven’t seen my video tour of the plant, you’ve got to check it out to see how fast the ladies hand wrap the sweets.
第一站是參觀一間椰子糖果工場，之前我有介紹過。如果大家沒有看之前帖子的視頻，記緊要看裏面的女工如何敏捷地包糖果。

Then we go to see a small bee colony and got to taste the fresh honey from the frame. Oh! Here’s our guide again. Apparently he handles all the displays and introductions on the tour, including a massive python which a lot of the guys from the group held and took photos with. I ran away and hid in the restaurant when they did that. My husband told me afterwards there was a cage full of them.?
下一站到一家養了蜜蜂的餐廳。導遊在介紹養蜂蜜過程還讓我們品嚐新鮮蜂蜜。 餐廳還養了很多大蟒蛇，又是由導遊向大家介紹，還拿其中一條給各團友們拍照。這個環節我要跑到老遠的餐廳裏面躲避。?

Finally it was a ride on the smaller boats along the murky Mekong River.
最後我們乘坐四人小船兒在湄江河的小支流上暢遊。

I was sitting at the back of the 4 person boat behind two other people from the group who decided to purchase a local hat and obstructed my forward looking view in full. To be honest, I think tourists looks a bit hideous in these local hats.
前面兩位團友戴上當地越南帽子，老實說我覺得遊客戴着有點滑稽，而且還阻礙我的視線。

But that didn’t stop me from watching the boats coming back the other way. The happiness on the face of some of the rowers, while others were just relaxing waiting for their next customer. To us tourist, the Mekong River may be just another sightseeing location, but for the locals, its their home, their life.
這段河流較狹窄，迎面而來的船隻常常互相有小碰撞，像在打招呼。船家們都滿載笑容在工作，有些很優閒地在等待下一位乘客。雖然眉江河的水流較污糟，而且我們遊客也只是過客，但這是船家們的生活，也是他們的家。