When I arrived at Ho Chi Minh City I had no plan. All I knew was that I needed to watch my bag and that I wanted to visit the War Remnant Museum for more information on the Vietnam War. Anything else I was open to as I still had 8 days on my visa.

So I do what I usually do at most hostels and I asked the other people in the room for recommendations and I also ask the hostel owners where I was told about a Mekong Delta 2-day tour which included an overnight homestay or hotel. After the awesome homestay in Sapa this sounded ideal, a mini break from the city and I was looking to the bike ride and floating market. So I paid $34 and was on my way the next morning.

On reflection I would not recommend this tour to anyone who is looking for the ‘authentic’ backpacker experience. This was very much touristism 101 but our tour guide ‘Far’ was crazy and a super over the top happy nice guy and made it memorable… I had no idea the words ‘MY FAMILY’ could be used in sentences so frequently! “Hello my family, we go to the market now my family, oh my family, my family, my family”. I promise you this is not an exaggeration. On the positive side, if you got lost amongst other tours during the trip (likely as there were herds of tourists being dragged from one place to another) then all you’d need to do was stop and listen and 9 times out of 10 you heard “MY FAMILY” and off you went. Also he had a bizarre infatuation with young Brian on our trip offering up his life and hotel room to him and referring to him as ‘my darling’ – sadly this love story did not end well, Brian paid extra to stay in the homestay instead and they went their separate ways in life. 🙂

I’m not going to go into detail about the tour because it was what it was, a tour. But luckily the people on the tour (Max, Clemense and Brian) were brilliant company.

The pictures speak for themselves if you just picture a group of people following a man with a flag from one activity to the next.

It wasn’t my cup of tea but I did get a lot done in a short amount of time… there were many parts I didn’t even take pics of like the fruit garden tour, the coconut candy tour or the singing ladies who serenaded us as we ate. But pretty much everything you did had a ‘gift shop’ or hinted towards a tip but at least it brings money in.