MeKong Delta

Vietnam Trip - Days Fifteen and Sixteen

Tianne and I have just returned from our trip to the MeKong Delta, and really enjoyed it. Two days on an air-conditioned bus, English-speaking tour guide, two meals and accomodation for US$18 each. Sweet!

We met our tour group (about 16 people) at TNK travel at 7:45am. Our first stop was My Tho City -- about 1.5 hours away from Saigon. The first thing to mention about the MeKong Delta is that a lot of people live there, and some of the cities are quite large. We spent the night in Can Tho, which is the MeKong capital city. It is the fifth largest city in Vietnam with a population of more than 330,000 people. The second thing that really stands out for me is the people. Everyone we encountered was extremely friendly in this part of the country. Like most other parts of Vietnam we have experienced, it is beautiful but has a lot of pollution.

From My Tho we took a motorboat cruise through thet Bao Dinh canal. Then we took a ride down the Tien River where we saw fishing ports, stilt houses, boat building dry docks, and several islands. It was very interesting to have a glimpse at life in the delta.

In the afternoon we saw a demonstration of coconut candy making. It tasted like coconut toffee -- pretty delicious. We were also treated (read: subjected) to a Southern Vietnamese folk music performance by some islanders. Let's just say it's taking us a long time to warm up to the Vietnamese culture, and there was no way to escape. Quite a painful experience. We were also given some honey tea, which we enjoyed about as much as the performance.

We finally boarded some row boats, which we took through the Tan Thach canal to My Tho. This was quite an enjoyable trip, and the canal was fully covered with water coconuts. This type of coconut is apparently very hard to collect, but some city folks consider it a delicacy and are willing to pay a steep price for them.

We met our minibus and continued on to Can Tho, which was another two hour drive away. Well, the drive was two hours but then it took us another hour to wait for a ferry and complete the crossing. Bridge construction is in progress, but it wasn't soon enough for us!

Some people did homestays, but we opted to stay in a guesthouse. I'm pleased to report that while the accomodation was basic, it was much better than our Family Hotel experience in Kon Tum. We enjoyed a nice dinner on Can Tho's waterfront with a German couple (Ingrid and Andy).

The next morning began early -- breakfast at 6:30am and on the minibus for 7am. It actually began a bit earlier for us because I thought we had to leave at 6:30am. Sorry sleepy T! After a short drive to the warf, and a quick visit to Can Tho Market, we boarded a motorboat to explore the Bassac River.

After about 10 minutes we arrived at Cai Rang, the busiest floating market in the MeKong Delta. There were boats loaded with every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine -- and a few that you have probably never heard of before. Most boats had a tall stick where they hung the products they had for sale (for example, a pineapple on a stick for a pineapple boat). You just needed to motor up to the boat you wanted to buy from. There were also boats that served noodles, coffees and sodas for anyone who wanted some breakfast. They would come along side your boat and ask you what you wanted.

We continued down the river to the Phong Dien floating market, which is about an hour ride from Can Tho. This is the market where shops make larger purchases. The other market was geared towards smaller, individual purchases. We had a touristy stop to see how rice paper sheets are made (the ones used for fresh rolls/spring rolls). We returned to the Can Tho Market where T and I purchased some mangos, lychees and other fruits. The bus took us back to Can Tho for about an hour where everyone had lunch.

Then we began the 4.5 hour journey back to Saigon. Tianne and I did not make any friends on the return journey. First, we lucked out again and had our own window seats. The wait for the ferry ended up being about an hour, so the guide thought it would be fun to take everyone outside to walk on the boat. We were a bit slow to get our stuff together, and were the only ones who opted to stay on the bus for a nice air-conditioned nap. When everyone else came back on a bus an hour later, they were completely soaked -- it was probably around 35C today.

The bus arrived back in Saigon at around 5:30pm and we headed for Vietnam Airlines to book our tickets for Phu Quoc Island in the Indian Ocean. The Island is claimed by both Vietnam and Cambodia, although I believe the infrastructure (and military bases) are all Vietnamese. It is supposed to be quite a nice place. It is the start of the rainy season, so our fingers are crossed that we end up with some decent weather. We will be on the Island from May 16th to 19th (although we may return to Saigon a day early if the weather is poor).