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Here we are in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city. Larger than the capital Hanoi, it was formerly named Saigon.
But today, our bus is taking us to the Mekong delta.
We leave Ho Chi Minh City towards My Tho, on the banks of the Mekong.
This is a two-hour drive, while our guide talks in excellent French about Vietnamese society.
On the roadside, there are many shops that sell Peking duck.
After a while, there are more paddy fields than houses.
At 11:00, we reach My Tho, the capital of the region of Tien Giang and one of the main ports in the Mekong Delta.
We embark on a small river bus and begin our navigation on the Mekong.
The river water is full of sediment, which gives the brown color. Here it is almost 3 km wide.
10th largest river in the world for its flow, it has its source in the Himalayas...
passes successively through China, Laos, and Cambodia before reaching Vietnam.
Our destination is one of the islands nearby on the Mekong River. But before that, we will change boat.
We leave our ship to embark on a sampan motor boat, the only available transport on the island.
We have no idea of where we are, but anyway the navigation is very picturesque.
After 15 mins, we reach our destination, a traditional candy factory. Better be careful when getting off the boat!
Our visit begins with refreshments served while we listen to local traditional music.
Besides candies, the establishment also has bee hives and produces quality honey.
Our visit ends with a special encounter with a python!
We're back in our sampan towards the bank of the Mekong.
We embark on the boat again, while black clouds darken the horizon. We enjoy fresh coconuts, waiting for departure.
The wind has risen, and the weather is getting a little scary.
Heavy rain falls on our boat. Hopefully it will not last too long.
For safety reasons, the boat has stopped in the middle of the river until the weather calms down.
The rain has stopped when we are back on the bus. We leave My Tho towards Ho Chi Minh City.
We are back in Ho Chi Minh City. No time to wander, we go directly to the harbour.
Costa Allegra's siren sounds in the local dampness, indicating the ship's departure.
We will be sailing down the river for 4 hours before we reach the South China Sea.
We are impatient to watch the captain's skill...
as this huge ship will weave between the city on one side, the wild nature on the other, among boats of all sizes.
The show prepared by the animation team is very popular with passengers...
who tend to watch it rather than the spectacular scenery passing behind them.
Costa Allegra enters the Can Gio mangrove, which is classified by UNESCO and covers more than 170,000 acres.
The lush vegetation that surrounds us gives us the impression of navigating in the middle of a forest.
The ship will continue down the delta for an hour before reaching the South China Sea.
Tomorrow is again dedicated to navigation. We will sail north along the Vietnamese coast...
to the port of Danang that we will reach on Wednesday morning.