Mekong Delta, Vietnam: From serenity to scooter chaos.

As we bid Cambodia goodbye, we decided to head into Vietnam with a three-day tour of the Mekong River Delta. We'd heard a lot of scare stories about the hectic pace of life in Vietnam, and so the idea of spending a few days cruising around fishing villages and seeing a bit of rural life seemed like the ideal way to ease ourselves in gently: dipping our toes in, rather than bombing in at the deep end. Hey, we've stroked tigers and climbed volcanoes, we've earned the right to be cowardly occasionally, ok?

The first day consisted of motoring down a very wide section of the Mekong, where we stopped either side of the Vietnamese border - first to get stamped out of Cambodia, and then five minutes down river to get stamped into Vietnam (we already had our visas as you need them in advance for Vietnam). Then, with the admin all sorted, we veered off down a far narrower stretch of the delta. From here, we enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon gently pottering downstream admiring all the colourful riverside houses and huts, the spindly-looking monkey bridges and waving back at local children who pretty much all wanted to wave at the funny-looking group of tourists in their little boat. The tiny and largely unused section of my brain that sporadically enjoys birdwatching was also delighted to spot a couple of Collared Kingfishers darting across the river too. Every bit as impressive in flight as their more orangey cousins that you see fishing in British rivers. Ok, I'll stop going on about birds now. At least there are birds here. We barely saw a bird in Laos. Cheap protein...

We spent the night in a crappy hotel (part of the package tour unfortunately) in a little town called Chau Doc. Nothing much to shout about here, but it did give us our first glimpse of just how many Vietnamese ride scooters - not to mention the joys of crossing the road. We've pretty much got it licked now. The rule is: just walk in front of scooters, but don't walk in front of cars. Keep walking and the scooters will dodge you expertly. Stutter or stop and you'll confuse them and they'll start wobbling worryingly! You just have to go for it. A far bigger danger is a local about to set off on his scooter who is backing it onto the road with his feet while sitting on it. They rarely look at what's behind them and will go over your toes if you're not careful.

Next day we visited a weaving village, which would have been interesting had we not been somewhat rushed round it. We were distracted by some giant pigs out the back, and by the time we'd finished there was barely time to learn about how the silk weaving was done. Then it was on to a fish farm, where we were allowed to throw food pellets into the fish tanks (built into wooden floating floors with nets so as to utilise Mekong water) by the bucket-load and watch with amazement as the fish went into a frantic, spasming frenzy in the fight for food. They turned the water into a froth, and if you stood nearby you could get soaked.

We spent the night in Can Tho, a city of about 300,000 people, which has a pretty impressive shiny silver statue of Ho Chi Minh to gawp at on its riverfront. And then our last day included a visit to a floating market (less photogenic than the Thai one, but still nice to see), as well as a fruit plantation village where they also had a mini zoo featuring an array of unusual creatures including a large gang of baby cayman. After lunch it was then time to head off to Saigon. Or Ho Chi Minh City to give it its official name. I'll do like the locals and stick with Saigon. As I type approximately twelve thousand scooters are whizzing by outside. Vietnam is bonkers, but so far so good.