A Day in the Delta

A few years ago I stood on the edge of one of Europe's largest deltas, the Danube Delta. In Tulcea for a conference, there really wasn't the time to wander through the waterways and observe the life of Romania's river folk. Maybe someday I'll get back to that part of Romania and take that chance to delve into the unique rural landscape.

After spending a day sweating through Saigon, Mihai and I decided not pass on another chance to observe and learn about life on a delta. This time, the major delta is the Mekong Delta. The river that it caps is the life-blood of the region that our current trip is focused on. At various points throughout the next few months we will encounter this river as it passes through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam flowing from its origin in China.

Toward the beginning of our Southeast Asia adventure, at our first encounter of the mighty Mekong, we visited a place called Cai Bai not far from the river's end. The thirty or so passengers from the bus transferred nicely onto a long boat, four seats across with a center aisle. Our guide made a couple attempts to speak over the initial sound of the roaring engine, and we made likewise attempts to listen. Eventually he stopped, waiting for the old lady behind the wheel of the boat to complete her 6 point floating k-turn to be on our way. As the engine fell into its rhythm the guide was able to speak and be understood as he made a brief introduction of the floating market we were about to see.

What they don't tell you before you pay, is that you won't be able to see the floating market in its full, bustling grace. No, no, no, that happens between the hours of 4am and 10am. You are coming from Saigon, several hours away, and you got a late start due to some fellow tourists who woke up late or couldn't find the meeting place. Regardless, there were boats out on the water. I suppose there had to be, since the people live there. Long bamboo poles stretched into the air with a vegetable attached to it, advertising the product that that particular boat was selling. Eleven, twelve, or whenever it was when we arrived was a bit too late for commerce. Instead of exchanges of money and goods we saw early risers taking a siesta in their hammocks on there boats. I guess it's all part of life on the Mekong.

The Banana Boat! (and other fruits)

At the end of the lane of market boats was an imposing church, the surprise of a rural Asian landscape. Before reaching that far though, one boat was alive and kicking, ready to unload some of its colorful bounty on us in exchange for our Ho Chi Minh bank notes. Any kind of fruit that Vietnam has to offer was sitting, hanging, or somewhat buried in the bowels of this boat and you better believe that Mihai was the first to cross over onto it picking out something new to taste. Suddenly her fears of boats, water, and falling in vanished with the sight of our fruit clad neighbor. She came back chewing on a chunk of orange durian while clasping a small container of cut up plum fruits. I was hesitant to try the durian and rightfully so. It has an unpleasant smell and an unpleasant aftertaste but the time spent chewing in between was quite nice. The plum fruit was new for me but didn't pack a lot of taste. The yellow mango is still at the top of my list of best tropical fruits.

Making rice paper for wrapping spring rolls

Our conical hat wearing, smiling, Vietnamese village grandma driver rammed the boat into a concrete post next to some stairs to signify our arrival at the next stop on the tour. Tourists from other boats had already arrived before us and were making their way around the interior of this open structure. Inside there were different stations where people and equipment were set up to display how some of the local products are traditionally produced. First there was the coconut candy being made. You could see the different stages of the process from shaving the coconut, to pressing out the liquid, to cooking it and putting it out to harden in its form. It tasted delicious. Next there was a lady making the rice paper that Vietnamese use to wrap their spring rolls. Finally there was a still set up making rice wine. Further down the lane we tested various products produced by bees. Of course, the honey and lemon tea was my favorite and quite fitting as I have had a cold for several days now.

 Finally, the group piled into our boat again to head to another location for lunch. The venue was a large house with several pavilions situated in the tropical forest surrounding it. It was a mediocre lunch of spring rolls, rice, and pork but the environment was exciting. All around us the cicada were yelling. A fish in a nearby pond jumped. Fruit trees were loaded with durian, plums, and bananas. Following dinner we hopped on some bikes to explore some more. At first we were following a path through fruit forests connecting households. We stopped briefly to watch some folks harvest plums. The path turned into a road wide enough for scooters moving in opposite directions to comfortably pass by one another. Many scooters did pass by when we were on that road. At one point, the road followed a stream and we were cycling at about the same speed as a motorboat moving up the stream. Riding the narrow country road over small bridges, passing homes and farms, waving to locals may have been the part that really made my day. I don't remember ever riding a bike as slow as I did today.

After the bike ride we sat down to a small show and then took some row boats up a small stream leading us to the larger river where our boat back to the bus was waiting. Though we were a bit shuffled around as tours are, the experience of the Mekong was quite nice. The slow pace, fresh air, and smiling faces of the countryside was a nice break from the constant noise of Saigon. One more full day in Saigon before ending our stay in Vietnam.