Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta region is the bottom, tear-shaped area of Vietnam. It is where 9 tributaries converge on the mighty Mekong river making it a lush and fertile landscape. It is known as the rice basket of Vietnam. I took a bargain basement budget tour of the area over two days. Up until this point it had rained every afternoon in Vietnam solidly for a couple of hours but the mornings had been clear and crisp. As I was to be spending the majority of the next two days on a boat, I was hoping for the same weather. By half past 8 the first morning, torrential horizontal rain had started. Before we got to the Mekong river, we stopped off at a temple where the buddhist monks were in prayer. They had to stop their prayers to shutter and bolt the doors closed as the winds picked up even more. The temple would have been beautiful if I could have seen it through the sheet rain. We boarded the first boat to take us across the river to islands with local "factories" on. Health and safety is not the greatest concern in SE Asia yet as we boarded this boat, the guide insisted we wore life jackets - that made a couple of people feel nervous. The life jackets had the bonus of keeping us warmer. I would not have said it was a rough crossing but the Chinese tourists had all turned green.

I was hoping to see some traditional way of life in the Mekong, but unfortunately these mass market tours take you to tourist built replica's. I am not saying I didn't enjoy myself because I did but the fisherman landing his catch (in the photo above) was the only real thing we saw on the first day. We were taken to a coconut candy (their title - not mine) factory where we had a demonstration on how coconut milk is heated, mixed and turned into sweets. I did buy a bag of coconut biscuits. I also had a shot of coconut wine. The name is a lie - it was hard spirit and very strong at that. It certainly warmed the cockles and made the rain radiate off me. Then it was a quick 10 minutes ride in a donkey and cart, thankfully the rain stopped, otherwise the cart would not have made it around the muddy track. We were also shown a man carrying bees, to demonstrate the local honey, and we drank honey tea. Obviously we were encouraged to buy some - obviously I declined. We were even entertained by people playing traditional music and songs. The mini concert lasted 5 mins and ended with the classic Vietnamese song, "If you're happy and you know it,clap your hands" Lunch was served on another island, a huge tourist built restaurant that could cater for all the tour groups at the same time. My complementary meal of rice and vegetables was actually really tasty.

The restaurant complex also had a crocodile farm. The crocodiles were fascinating. They kept so still in the water, if I had not seen one move earlier, I would have sworn they were plastic. They didn't move a muscle. You could purchase meat on a line to dangle in front of the crocs. Once it was in range, the crocodile would spring up and devour the meat. They really were impressive creatures, it was obvious when watching them why they are so feared. They are ferocious predators and you would not know they were there until it was too late! The highlight of the afternoon for me was when the bee man came back with his pet python. A Spanish bloke attempted to have it round his neck but he was clearly very scared and could not relax, so I offered to "wear" it. I loved it - it was a beautiful creature, so elegant. I laughed out loud as it started to wrap itself around my legs - this was too much for the Chinese tourists, who by now were whimpering. My delight buoyed up some of the others who also had a go. Bee-man had to take the python away as it was time for our next activity. A ride down a small river in a traditional boat - a sampan. These are small rowing boats which can fit 4 inside, with a rower sat at the front and another person on the rudder behind. The serene pace of river life was over in 10 minutes as it was time to head back to the mainland. From there we were driven a couple of hours until we reached the town of Can Tho. Here you could stay in a hotel (guess where the Chinese went) or you could stay in a homestay along the river. Homestay in this case meant guest-house along the river. We were loaded into another smaller and much more rickety boat and chugged along the river for half an hour. By now it was dark, the rain was still falling and the boat felt like it would tip any minute. It was an interesting ride! We all arrived safely though and relaxed in hammocks til the rooms were ready. I was expecting to share a room (and I did) but I was not expecting to share a bed! All the beds were doubles, so my bed-mate was a girl called Doris from Korea. Unfortunately she spent most of the night rolling into me and kicking me so i was not well rested for our 6am start in the morning.

We were up early so we could visit the famous floating market at Cai Rang. This is basically a food market but instead of stalls each vendor has a boat. Buyers row up to each boat and bargain. We had a 50 minute boat ride simply to reach Cai Rang but at least it was light and despite thunderous looking sky, it wasn't raining yet. The pictures normally shown to tourist are taking over the New year period, the busiest in the year when the market can stretch for 18km. On a Tuesday morning in August the market was approx 1 - 2 km long. Weaving in and out of the boats was fun though especially as I had managed to get the best seat on our boat - nobody else wanted it because it was by itself but the views were great. As our passenger boats glided through the market small drinks boats attached themselves to the side of our boat and tried to sell us all soft drinks of every description. I treated myself to a diet coke. Pineapples, potatoes and watermelons seemed to be the big sellers of the day.

After an hour or so we had pretty much exhausted the market so it was time to go ashore. We visited a rice noodle factory - they make giant thin rice pancakes and then put them through a shredder to make the noodles. Then it was another cruise down the river before our guide took us to a restaurant where we could try local delicacies. Bear in mind it was only 10am so nobody was hungry, then the menu came out. You could try mouse, rat, frog, snake or eel. There were no takers but this did not deter our guide. Instead he brought out 1 litre of rice wine. Again, when I say wine, I mean homebrew spirit that is around 60% proof. He offered it around but it being 10am meant the majority refused. A Russian couple on their honeymoon took him up on his offer, as did a couple of Spaniards. For the next 40minutes we all watched them get steadily wasted. I had one glass but it was foul stuff. The guide thought it funny I was veggie and kept asking if i wanted to try the mouse. When I told him I wasn't a cat, he cracked up and gave me a pineapple. For the rest of the morning I was walking around brandishing a pineapple like a sword.

We were boated back to Can Tho where it was a long bus ride back to Saigon. I carried my pineapple all the way back to the hostel and later that night I chopped it up and ate the whole lot. It was very tasty and alot better than I imagine the mouse would have been. I later found out why there had been so much rain whilst I was in the Delta. Turns out it was the tail end of a typhoon that had been battering China!