Mekong Delta PART III: Cai Mon

         After our aforementioned Omelet breakfast, we decided to kick it toward Cai Mon. After looking at the map I saw that there were fruit gardens in that area that I wanted to explore. We thought about the possibility of spending more time on a boat, but we really wanted to take out our own boat and it simply wasn’t an option there. The main reason we chose Bến Tre over My Tho was because it was more off the beaten path; and yet the entire trip people kept trying to put us on a tour. When we asked for directions to Cai Mon, the guy at the hotel literally wouldn’t give them to us and kept trying to get us to do a boat tour of all the things we had already seen the previous day. Although it’s nice and insightful to do the touristy things, today we wanted to carve our own path. We hopped on Ben’s bike and headed for the direction of Cai Mon. It was a brilliant decision.

            I can’t think of a better way to explore the Delta than to aimlessly set off. We had the best day of free exploring with absolutely no itinerary. We ended up in little villages exchanging smiles with lovely strangers and bouncing around natural playgrounds.

 I was ecstatic when we stumbled upon a bridge. My eyes widened and I immediately shouted, “Let’s go!”  It was the perfect place to just sit and watch the boats pass by. On the other side, it led to a paved path with a temple and a few homes alongside. I couldn’t begin to imagine growing up in such a secluded place. It’s such a simple life there.  I don’t mean that in a bad way whatsoever; it’s just weird to think of things introspectively because I’m from a place polar opposite to this. It always blows my mind to think of how different your background might be from someone and yet it takes absolutely no effort to find a common ground and befriend someone. Human nature is a remarkable thing.

            As for our exploring I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking:

            Our second nightcap consisted of drinking some beers alongside the river and befriending this child who was absolutely adorable until he started literally biting me. HARD. I kid you not; I had to pry him off of me. We had entertained each other for roughly 45 minutes, smiling and showing him the pictures he gleefully posed for. Then he played with our beer cans whilst his parents sat with their friends and chatted. They thought we were absolutely insane for climbing over the railing to sit by the river—they were highly concerned we would fall in. Regardless, they entrusted us with their child and eventually came to our rescue when the biting commenced (I am only being half sarcastic…it genuinely was painful).