The only difficulty with this idea? I was teaching on Thursday evening, which limited our choices in departure times and bus operators . In the end we opted for Hòa Hiệp company, leaving Vũng Tàu at 3.00am the next day. Sadly, this was not such a good choice. Knowing already that it would not be air-conditioned, we turned up at the bus station at 2.30am to discover it was a rather small vehicle that would become vastly overcrowded once we set out. Oh well, it served the purpose and delivered us to Sóc Trang city by 11.00am. And at least we had real seats instead of plastic stools.
There we ate lunch while waiting to meet one of Bảo's numerous cousins, who helped to engage two xe ôm drivers to take us to our real destination of Kế Sách district and the village home of great-uncle, his wife, sons and daughters and grand-children.
(In the picture on the left Bảo is the same generation as the young girl - the woman is her mother.) It took a bit of asking to find the house, but it seems most people know great-uncle. Later we were to discover this is in at least part due to his skills/reputation as a traditional healer. I soon discovered why great-uncle is such a favourite with his family. His personality is so expansive and engaging, and at 85 he is still lively and active. I feel honoured to have been received into his home.
After dinner that night one of the uncles took us to drink coffee and then to eat bánh xeo miền tây. Walking back home he also pointed out some of the features of the village which sits at the junction of a river and one of the branches of the Mekong. The next morning we had breakfast of bún mắm in the market with uncle and great-uncle, who then took us on a walking tour of the village centre and the pagoda. 
Here we met the monk and found out about the work being done to renovate rooms behind the pagoda where old people with no family can come to live. The big community room behind the pagoda has many brightly coloured pictures of the various Buddhist hells.
Then uncle took us across the river (Mekong) to the island where he is a teacher.
Here we visited many houses of colleagues and friends, drinking a huge assortment of beverages ranging from coconut juice to beer and coconut wine to iced coffee and nước ngọt. It reached the stage where we could hear the ice being chopped up at the next house and had to request "no more, sorry!".Back at great-uncle's house we ate lunch and then met more family members, this time including the son of another deceased great-uncle, who of course Bảo should properly call "uncle" even though he is 7 years younger. They did do this when they were boys, but now the uncle calls Bảo "anh". While everyone talked I looked around the grounds of the house more, discovering the range of fruit trees, and learning that the tidal patterns of the Mekong are the reason that most houses in the delta stand on tiny islands surrounded by ponds. This had always been a mystery to me. By the way the scullery of the house is outside over one of the ponds and this is also where we brushed our teeth.
That evening we returned to stay at Sóc Trang, before venturing on the next day to Bạc Liêu, where (you guessed it) there was another cousin to meet and take us around. The idea was to hire him and his friend (they are both xe ôm drivers) to take us around but at the end of the day the cousin steadfastly refused to accept payment. Thank you so much for welcoming us!
Our first destination was a town half way to Cà Mau, the southern-most province/city of Vietnam. Here there is a huge - I mean gi-normous - church as well as a museum and chapel dedicated to the most famous priest of the area. From there we turned back towards Bạc Liêu before leaving the highway and travelling several kilometres through farmland to reach a large temple complex dedicated to Quan Am. At this point we were now almost at the sea, although I didn't realise it. Bảo relayed to me that in the living past the land where the temple now is was on the coast, yet all we could see in front of us was more land and then mangroves. It wasn't until we crossed a small river just to the north of the temple that I understood and truly appreciated the extent to which Vietnam is visibly growing each year as the Mekong deposits more and more silt into the ocean.
On the way back into the city we had time to visit the Bird Sanctuary. Looking at my road map book for Vietnam I now know there are a number of bird reserves in these southern-most provinces, established in mangrove areas and providing sanctuary for an abundance of water-birds, including herons and cormorants. Really the birds are free to come and go, but there is also a large netted area to give them safe haven, along with ground-dwellers, and we were in time to see some of the birds being fed.Our final destinations were 1) the tomb of a very famous cai lương song-writer and singer. This style of music is the traditional one for the south but is not to everyone's taste! 2) the mansion of a man reputed (still) as the richest man in Bạc Liêu. A good place to read about both of these tourist features of the city is here.
Then all too soon our time was up, and it was time to travel 10 hours back to Vũng Tàu. Again not without its surprises. The manager of the hotel we stayed at in Bạc Liêu recommended using her friend's private transport service to get back to Hồ Chí Minh City. No problems there and it was a smooth trip using the new freeway alternative to highway one. However, we were dropped off a long distance from Bến Xe Miên Đông, and had to take a local bus - a new experience for me - from outside Đam Sen water park to reach the bus station.
