VietCamLao Chapter 18 - Southern Vietnam. Cai Rong, Ho Chi Minh, Vung Tau, Ham Tien

Back to Vietnam again! This time from its Southern frontier. As you might remember, in Chapter 6 we took a bus from Ninh Binh area to Lao border in order to avoid intense rains in the central part of Vietnam and now we are back.
Our first overnight stop was in Rach Gia. It’s usually used as a transport hub in order to get to Cambodia or offshore Vietnamese islands. From here you can take a ferry to Phu Quoc, Tho Chu, Nam Du and other islands. As we came back to Vietnamese reality after weeks in desolated Laos and Cambodia, we felt big change driving on Vietnamese side of the border, much more dense, it almost felt like driving through one super long town.
Observation: it was a real surprise for us to realize that everyone in Southern Vietnam is wearing a helmet. If you have any clues to this phenomenon, write us a comment.
Our next stop was Can Tho and we couldn't miss its legendary Cai Rang floating market. You start your trip to the market before sunrise and it takes approximately 30 minutes of relaxing ride by boat to get there. Cai Rang is the most famous wholesale floating market in Southern Vietnam. Despite significant development of road infrastructure, floating markets in Mekong delta keep growing.
Overall trip to Cai Rong market is a nice ride on the river, which is full of interesting things. You can experience river way of living and we should admit it’s quite interesting. We were quite surprised by how crowded and lively this market is. The waterway becomes a maze of hundreds of boats packed with mango, bananas, pineapple and seasonal veggies.
Usually trip is not limited to just floating market and tour operators offer a bit of exploration of the canals. You will probably stop in overpriced restaurant for breakfast and will visit noodle factory as well. Maybe you will even see cock fight on the way.
We didn't see such a big variety of different uses of a motorbike as on the stretch of the road that led us to Ho Chi Minh. From fridge to coconuts and candles, huge trees and dozens of chicken. Obvious question came up: why do you need a car at all!?!
We have done over 5000 km by the time we arrived to Saigon but even for us traffic in this vibrant city seemed quite extreme at the beginning. The current official name Ho Chi­ Minh was adopted in 1976 and commemorates the first leader of North Vietnam.
If we need to compare it with Hanoi, then Ho Chi Minh is definitely our favourite. It felt much more developed and dynamic. Plenty of restaurants and accommodation options. The amount of smog is on the same level though.
After couple of days in Southern Capital of Vietnam - the ocean was calling us! We packed our bags and headed East. Vung Tau was our destination. Despite its fame as a big holiday destination in Vietnam, we found a meditational break there, as all the activities were closed and you could barely see any people walking on the street. From the amount of hotels we can imagine how busy it can be in the high season.
Positive side of being traveling in a low season (for locals) is that you can enjoy places on your own. On the way we actually found surprisingly beautiful coastline with large area of beautiful rock formations at the Ke Ga Cape. Lighthouse stands there, which was built in 1899 and is considered as the tallest and oldest existing lighthouse in Vietnam.
Next most logical stop was at the kitesurfing paradise Ham Tien and Mui Ne fishing village. The are is well known in kitesurfing community and is a popular tourist destination, especially for Russians.
After long but scenic ride we finally arrived to Dalat. Large crowds and great street food made a warm welcome. Karaoke was a special touch to the city atmosphere )))

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