The Mekong Delta slowboat ticket office was at the major of the pier, and it was a quite uncomplicated transaction – all I wanted was my passport and the payment in income. I was assigned a seat number, whilst in apply these are arbitrary. Right here there was a bit of waiting, but I utilized the prospect to laden myself with treats at the close by stall – some thing I’d extremely propose, as there aren’t exactly retailers on the river. I also introduced myself to a several of my fellow travellers, some of whom were being on organised team excursions and some solo-travelling.
The boat remaining about eleven, but it’s far better to board a minor before. You want to be close to the entrance or center, as the engines are at the again and are deafening more than enough to change this idyllic journey into a thing altogether more demanding. Some boats have fairly awkward wood pew-form seats, while some have chairs repurposed from coaches, so a vacation pillow can be extremely beneficial. Mine was the former, and it did suggest a whole lot of shifting from cheek to cheek, but for the cost it was additional than cosy enough. Despite the fact that the actual ride down the river is reasonably clean, the boat rocks rather substantially for the duration of passenger boarding and cargo loading, so if you’re a little bit nervous about sailing you may well want to get ready yourself.
Even though it experienced only been a couple small hours since I’d woken up, I felt like I’d presently packed in multiple days’ worthy of of travelling. But now I realized I could sit back again, chill out, and acquire in the river scenery. The character of the boat implies shade and a continual breeze to battle the pulsing Southeast Asian solar, so it was a pleasant journey from the getgo. Even though my environment ended up a delight, the sights were rather dependable all through the initial working day, so I received through a couple of web pages of my e-book. Nonetheless, I also experienced a deck of playing cards, maybe the most useful item any traveller can have if they want to socialise. The playing cards swiftly created me preferred among the other passengers seeking for one thing to do, and shortly there had been a few distinct groups of us all obtaining to know just about every other.