It was a 08:00 start today had us leave the hotel bound for our first stop of a wholesale market in the Chinese district of Saigon.

We saw all sorts of items for sale in bulk and another gaggle of odd looking dried foods. Our local guide bought us some rice snacks to try that tasted a little like rice crispies with some dried pork and chillies in it. It is his favourite beer snack food.



















We then drove around 2 hours to the Mekong Delta, with a brief stop at a tourist centre for a loo break, and boarded a boat at Ben Tre.








On the way we saw some traffic police pulling over overloaded vehicles and scooters carrying too much cargo. Our guide mentioned the corruption that occurs with the traffic police and how they have a quota of tickets they need to issue each month. Some of them do other undeclared work on the side and in the last week of the month go all out to get their quota. They are also open to bribes and many drivers hand over wads of notes with their paperwork in order to be on their way in a hurry. If a motor cycle/scooter rider does not have their licence on them the cops have the power to impound their bike, on the spot.