12 February, Ben Tre to Ben Luc, 61km
Hotel My Huong 300,000VND

The lotus is perhaps the most spectacular flower of all. Its large petals in white tinged with palest pink are tipped with a deeper shade of pink. The multilayered petals curve upward protecting in their embrace a distinctive seed pod in a spectacular golden yellow. Lotus grow in deep water, and their stems are long and strong enough to hold the dinner-plate-sized flowers well above the water surface on which their circular leaves float. They are the only plants that fruit and flower at the same time. The lotus is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism and appears often in Buddhist art. Reaching nirvana can be related to the blooming of the lotus. It is rooted in mud (materialism), its stem grows through water (experience), and its flowers bloom above the water in sunlight (enlightenment). On this trip we have not been lucky enough to find a pond of perfect blooms, but over the last couple of days we have seen a few of my favourite flower... We are headed for the Cambodian border, which we should cross in another day or two. 

Mytho

Lotus

Lotus

Lotus

Lotus

Between Ben Tre and Ben Luc

Between Ben Tre and Ben Luc