Day 48 of The Big Adventure, according to Parker.

Sadly another disastrous nights sleep for me, waking up at 2 after a grand total of 3 hours sleep. I was relieved when the alarm went off at 7 that I could finally get up and we could get going! It turned out poor Lau had had a similarly bad night. 

We got ready for our trip, not really 100% sure what was in store to be honest. All we knew was there was to be no swimming as the travel agent lady laughed at us when we asked (in hindsight, can see why, the water would NOT be good to swim in, worse than the Thames).
The four of us went down for a cheeky banana pancake before heading to get the bus from the travel agent. Sadly Sarz had opted to stay at the hostel in case of any further stomach disasters in the absence of toilets on the coach/boats.
At the travel agents, we saw a girl from our flight for the third time, and yet again she looked miserable as sin. 
We piled onto the bus when it arrived – an appropriate term given there were no free seats so had to make do with the corridor – worrying given it was a 1.5 hour journey…
Luckily 10 minutes later we dropped some people at a different bus so we got seats! When the guide saw Lauren French plaiting my hair he called me the queen of the bus lol. But then when it was Freya’s turn he called her princess and said he would be her prince, I think he preferred her.

  
The guide starting rambling on about what we were going to be doing, very difficult to follow. He kept trying to make a joke about eating worms snakes and crocodiles for lunch and kept repeating it until someone laughed… His awful repetitive jokes turned out not to be a one time thing, bless him. 
It turned out to be quite a random trip, albeit very enjoyable!
Our first stop was just a rest stop to use the toilet but it was in a very fancy garden with these really funny giant fish.

  
  
The next real stop was a giant happy Buddha and a giant reclining Buddha… Hilarious! 

  

  

They were slightly ruined by benches advertising Wrigleys chewing gum everywhere. Freya and I got an ice cold DC (diet coke) – JUST the job in the heat , divine.
10 minutes later we finally got to our dragon boat on the delta where we would be doing a tour of 4 islands we were told. 

  
Island 1 – Unicorn island- on this island we were shown how they make candy out of coconut alone and got to sample it. It was ok, very chewy, a bit fudge like but had a weird after taste. The peanut butter version was the only nice one I would say. Amazing how they had no sugar or anything added though and amazing how they were all being handmade and wrapped so efficiently without machinery to help!

  
Island 2 – crocodile island – firstly we had lunch, a small bowl of soup (although arguably just meat stick with a small bit of veg and pasta floating in), pork, rice, beans and spring rolls. It did the job!

  
We then went to go and see the alleged crocodiles. We wandered a bit before we found them and when we did there were loads (about 20). After watching them for a bit we decided they weren’t real as they were so still and in particular one had its mouth open the whole time… I was furious that they’d but fake crocodiles in just to sell it as crocodiles island for the tourists! We walked around the gardens which I were really pretty, I couldn’t believe how green everything was. 

  
We then went to go back to the entrance and on the way past the crocodiles. We peaked in and they had moved !! We watched them again a bit more closely and they were real – I was very happy about this. 
We had to cross a river to go back to the entrance and I opted for a risky bamboo bridge with an over view of the river – luckily I made it over in one piece although it was boiling crossing over!
Island 3 – honey island -we were sat down to try the honey made from the bees on the island. They made us hot honey and lemon – not my favourite drink for a hot day but the honey was nice. I also used the opportunity to lemon juice up my hair! We were also given home made peanut butter brittle, banana chips and crystallised ginger. The brittle and chips (but mainly brittle) were amazing!! I hate ginger but Freya made me try some. it was vile, as expected. 
The snacks were so delicious that we mind swept for more from the other losers’ tables who hadnt eaten it all – of which there was lots – hooray.
Me and Freya then held the bees which I found much more terrifying than it looked! Freya is now considering a career in bee keeping as she was so good…

  
  

We then went to hold the snake. We got there and I quickly opted out of this given the lack of supervision – that and the fact it was massive great Python.

   Freya waltzed up to take him but quickly shied away shrieking.

   Lauren then took the Python and placed him on her shoulders. It quickly began to wiggle it’s body and tongue in a worrying manner but she couldn’t find anyone to offload the great beast on to! She was amazing calm (thank god Freya hadn’t taken him!!) and managed to find another tourist to give him to. 

  
  

We then went on the most delightful rowing boats to island 4. It was like its a small world ride at Disneyland but real life, so fun. We also got to try he Vietnamese Hats – not good for ventilation I concluded.

  
  
  
It was very awkward towards the end as other Vietnamese rowers were shouting at us to give our rowing lady money. She actually held us hostage at the end in the middle of the river until we paid her!! That was a shame as slightly ruined the boat trip being so aggressive.
Island 4 – fruit island (ok I made that up but can’t remember) – finally released on to the island we were seated and given lots of different fruits of the delta to try whilst we listened to some local “music”. This turned out to be 3 nervous looking Vietnamese people shrieking for about 30 seconds each. Not my fave genre music… The fruit was nice though (although not amazeee #princess).

  
  We then got the dragon boat one final time back to the bus and had to endure further singing from our guide. The bus ride back was much quicker and I even managed to sleep which was welcome (although I hadn’t felt too tired, excitement keeping me awake!).

  
We got back to the room at about 6 where Sarah was waiting for us. We had decided to go to the Bitexco tower bar on the 51st floor this evening for some glam drinks so we showered and got ready for this, obviously having free beers as we did so.

  
The taxi to the tower involved me directing with Lauren’s phone as sat nav as well as guiding the driver through painfully narrow gaps between parked BMWs. Thankfully we made it and navigated our way up to the bar – it was difficult to find the entrance but the abundance of staff Made it impossible to get lost on the way up!
Originally seated right next to some more VERY loud local music, we asked to move to some cozy sofas in the corner.

  
  
We had 4 people stand around us holding torches on our menus while we chose what to have … You can’t say they weren’t attentive. We opted for prosecco, yum! We looked out over the river and were surprised by how big HCMC was based on how lit up it was for such a distance. There was also a hilarious garishly designed lit up fish boat on the river which we enjoyed.

After some more prosecco and spring rolls courtesy of the manager, we walked home getting back to the hostel just after midnight, picking up some snacks on the way as we hadn’t really eaten a proper meal since lunch so were a bit peckish.
Hoping for a better nights sleep we headed to bed!