January 3, 2015 – Mekong Delta
Debbi: We got up at 5:30 (no wake-up call…again) for a “half day” tour, which is supposed to start at 6:30, but of course we didn’t get picked up for another 1/2 hour. It’s a long drive of 120 km to where we are to begin. Halfway there, we stopped at a great rest stop, which actually turned out to be a highlight for me. We saw some great lacquer works (I wrestled with the credit card, but common sense prevailed), a working dip-net, and some replicas of authentic fishermen’s houses.
(Reminder: To see images full-size, right-click on the image and select ‘open image in new tab’.)
You can see the dip-net at the right rear. You set the net below the water, fish swim in, the tide goes out, and your net is full of fish!
Along the way to this ‘floating market’, our guide fills us in with little bits of information. He explains the ‘coffee cafes’ that we see a lot of. They have tables/chairs, but also have a lot of hammocks. He tells us that riding a motorcycle is very tiring for some, because of the long distances people must travel to bring their wares to market, or to go to work, and the people need to rest their backs & arms. So they have places where people stop to take a break. The only rules are that they must buy something to either eat or drink, and they must look after their own bikes. They can spend the night if the weather turns bad or if it just gets too dark or dangerous to stay on the road.
A coffee café (truck stop)
Spirit Houses: When people can afford to, they will have a ‘spirit house’ at the gate entrance or somewhere in the front yard. The Spirit House is where the souls of the deceased family members reside and protect the living family. There are 3 things a Spirit House must have in terms of food & drink: rice, salt & rice wine. When a family can afford it, they build a gate at the entrance to their property, and a statue of a dog is placed on each gatepost. These dogs redirect the bad spirits to the Spirit House, where the spirits of the dead family members wrestle with them and keep them away from the house. Just recently, some families have been putting up Lions instead of dogs. These dogs are always gold and white, but depending on where the white goes, they sometimes resemble German Shepherds or Collies.
Piss off, bad spirit, or we’ll rip your leg off.
We finally arrive at the Mekong Delta. There are boats everywhere. We noticed our tourist boat doesn’t have life jackets, but all the other ones do. What’s with that? Well, once on the boat, we saw them stuck up on the ceiling. That made Deb feel better.
The happy crew of the Minnow.
All boats have eyes painted on the front bow and an anchor in the middle. There is not a boat on the Mekong that does not have this. Many, many years ago, the river was full of anacondas, pythons, alligators, and crocodiles, but they were all killed (and likely eaten) over time. Before they became extinct, eyes were painted on the boats to help the people see the danger before the boats were attacked. Now those animals live ‘way up’ the tributaries in the jungle, but the boats still have eyeballs.
The boats on the Mekong become the people’s homes away from home. The boat registration number on the side begins with the letters of the province they are from. Our guide pointed out several boats that were from over 200 miles away. The Mekong starts in China, flows through Laos, Cambodia & finally Vietnam. The river is always muddy/dirty looking because it is tidal and not very deep, but it’s extremely fertile and is the lifeline of these countries. It really is an incredible river.
A Mekong River workboat/houseboat.
Most boats sell only one thing, and they hang it from a pole on the bow. Apparently, this is the Unidentified Plant Material Boat…
The Watermelon Boat
This boat turned out to be “the obligatory/official floating market”. It was quite a disappointment for us, but the guide said that if we want to see the ‘real’ floating market, it’s a two-day tour, costs more money, and they take you to another part of the Mekong & spend the night. The ‘real’ floating market starts at 6 am, runs to 10 am, and after that it’s time to get to work. So if the floating market is important to you, be sure to take the 2-day tour.
The good news: there IS a market, it’s just not floating. It’s the usual rabbit-warren, very busy, and we ended up finding a place to make us an excellent lunch.
Debbi is negotiating with Mister Baguette. Incredible French bread filled with roast pork, vegetables, and a Vietnamese sauce. I think they were $0.50 each.
MR Ducks. Cedar BDIs?
A princess among the frogs.
Deb: After another little jaunt up a side channel, we went to a traditional singing and watched several skits. The skits were about a fisherman & his wife in different scenarios, but it’s the international common understanding of the gestures that you know what’s going on. For example, when the fisherman’s wife bonks him on the head & turns her back,.. You know that’s not foreplay.
Vietnamese country-and-western.
This is how you get around when there are no roads.
Cooking Class: We had lunch down the Mekong in this little village that shall remain nameless because we can’t remember it. So we were at this restaurant in the middle of nowhere when they gave us lessons on how to make spring rolls. One person from each couple had to enter the contest, so it was Steve. He won and got the shirt to prove it.
Then everyone went for a bike ride…except for me, because I don’t know how to ride a bike…and there was a funny thing that happened. One of the girls at our table fell off her bike and off the bridge and landed about eight feet below in the river. Steve went to her rescue and had quite a time pulling her out.
Steve: After lunch, most of us went on a 10 km bike ride around the island to get a close look at a couple of villages. The ‘main road’ was paved, single lane with no shoulders, and the ‘side roads’ were poured concrete about 5′ wide with absolutely nothing on either side. Very picturesque, as most of the time we were in something that could best be described as a jungle. There were several ‘bridges’ which were the same 5′ wide concrete with absolutely no curbs or railings; they were about 3′ above grade, so there was a steep little hill up the bridge and another one down on the other side. I was riding drag with a couple of Australian ladies in front of me, and when we got to the third bridge, the lady in front of me powered out on the way up, deked right, and then cut left and went arse over teakettle off the bridge with just a quiet little ‘eep!’. I barreled across, bailed off my bike, ran to the bank, and there she was about 8 feet below me, still on her bike, laughing her ass off. It took me three tries to get her up the muddy bank, and by that time, we both looked like warthogs. The nice Vietnamese lady next door brought out a garden hose and hosed us down until we could see what colour we were again. Then we all stood on top of the bank and looked down at the bike for a while. Finally, I sighed and eased down the bank, and after a couple of tries, I had lifted it far enough over my head that the folks on the bank could reach down and snag it. To make things even more lively, about two feet from where she came down, there was a three-inch tree trunk cut off about eighteen inches above ground level, just sitting there like a big punji stick. She was an extremely lucky lady, not a scratch! A bit later, I realized I had taken no photos, but the ladies refused to go back down the bank and pose for the blog. Some people are just so selfish.
Steve is taking his rescue vehicle for a walk. If you don’t get on, you can’t fall off.
After taking the Minnow back across the Mekong, we did a walking tour of one bank, which included stopping off at a puffed rice factory. Very cool. They have a honking big wok filled with black sand with a fire below it. The fire is fueled with rice husks. Then they throw rice into the hot sand and stir like crazy while it pops, and then they run it through a sieve and voila! popped rice. It tastes just like popcorn.
Hot black sand.
The rice is popping like crazy.
The sand falls through the sieve and there you are.
Finished product.
Herding the Minnow back to the dock at the end of a great day. Now all we have to do is drive back to Saigon for 2 1/2 hours!