On the 22nd of May, I left Ho Chi Minh City for the Meekong Delta provinces. On my first day I travelled with a German tourist called Janine. We took a small boat around the Ben Tre (sort of pronounced - Bhen Che) river area of the tourism precinct. Later that night I was driven to Can Tho (pronounced - Ghang Tah!)where I spent another 3 or 4 days checking out the capital of the region. There is a lot to do and see down this way. This is part one of of my images from the Meekong, I have even more from Vanh Long, a small rural area out of town.

I went to Can Tho to see the floating markets, and they were great, but not quite the idyllic image I had in mind of green grass and river canoes paddled by wise-faced little ladies. Rather it was a system of boats meeting on the river, tin housing crushing the water's edge and loud truck motors bopping through the otherwise relative quiet. An hour or so up river things became far more peaceful. Less boats, jungle and banana trees hugging the shore with the occaisional rice paddy visible from the boat. I saw young children splashing around and mothers do their washing, kitchen and clothing in the Meekong's murky waters. These were remarkably hard to get as my boat passed by. Later I learnt that my boat driver would've stopped if I asked!

I also found out after asking to visit a farm or someones house, that 'homestay' in Vietnam is another name for guesthouse, which is really a small private hotel, so my hopes of staying on a farm for a day or two were not to be.

Before I left Can Tho, I also took a day out on the opposite side of the main river and went to the fish markets. I was told there would be a lot of children there, and I think I ended up seeing more kids than adults, it was great shooting.