Mekong Delta

Mekong or Me for mother and Kon for children. The mother river with a thousand children starts somewhere in the Tibetan mountains and then it travels through several countries and finds the Vietnam Sea as a meandering estuary with several arms of it being used for the maritime shipping of Vietnam's agricultural exports (rice, fish and vegetables).

(Maximum load seen on most passing ships)

A van collected us at our small hotel, aptly called "Little Saigon, a boutique hotel", hidden in an alleyway ending in a plaza filled with parked motorbikes, and drove us 2 and a half hours south to the city of Cai Be, where our 3 bedroom Junk was waiting.


(House in Cai Be where Marguerite Duras had her first love affair
Now a treasured museum to people who never heard of her)

Douce Mekong has a 6 man crew (there is no space for women on board and Vietnamese can not sleep in mixed company, because, so we were told by Loi, our Guide, (phonetically spelled Low-ee), otherwise one would not know who the father was - haha. Since it was the end of the rainy season there were no other guests booked, so we were having the boat to ourselves. We were treated like King and Queen all two nights and were also addressed as such by Loi. The farewell email we received from him had my name correctly spelled, surprise, surprise but Sandee was addressed as Shandy.

(Often seen transport systems - three in this picture)
(School poster in front of school building)
(Roadside establishment)

We had the only top deck cabin and had tours every day. Loi was a vade mecum of facts on the Mekong. He hails from there, his father is a farmer, who cut off two of his fingers to avoid being conscripted for the army, and his mother is a seamstress.

(Sandee and Loi resting at the top of bridge during biking tour)
(Rice fields)
(Sunday afternoon children entertainment by Roman Catholic nun )
(Pink graves on church compound - why pink? No answers)

Let me list a few of his wisdoms for you: 18 million people live in the Delta area (total population Vietnam is 90 million).

(Papaya trees on border of rice fields)

The river is 1 mile wide in some areas, 50 to 70 meters deep in many areas and at low tide in shallowest places still10 meters deep.

( every morning different towel configurations)

Vietnam has 2nd best coffee in the world, but no brand names (I can attest to the fact that the coffee tasted wonderful)

(Roasting chicken, birds, intestines, mice, filled eggs and chicken feet)

(Eggs are filled with hot spices)
(Normal market chaos)

10-15 years ago government finished electrification for most of the Mekong Delta.

(These river shrimp have long tentacles)

The communist party established development priorities for the country: 1. "Electricity" everywhere, 2. "Roads" throughout the country (although we saw some great roads, the bridges were always 10-20 inches higher than the road surface requiring cars to slow down to 5 miles an hour to cross bridges - is that by design or bad road construction?) 3. "Education" (teaching children less important than roads??) 4. "Hospitals" last ???

(In the ancient house we found altar for dead relatives honored with food drink and fake U.S. money to travel to heaven)

"Men will eat rice everyday, so they need soup sometimes", translated "rice" for "wife" and "soup" for "lover". The divorce rate is very low in Vietnam.

(Lady Buddha only in indochina - not seen in Japan or Korea)
(Below happy Buddha)

Our female guide in Saigon (people in the south still call the city "Saigon" and the communist government calls it "Ho Chi Minh" confirmed that more than half the husbands she knows have lovers. She does not want her husband to ever tell her if he gets or has a lover.

(Picture in a COA DAI temple, a Vietnamese church temple variation, espousing proper lifestyle to reach heaven - your homework for today)
(With this boat you make your last trip to the graveside)

There are a lot more women (by 2020: 4 million more marriage-age women) than men in Vietnam and half the population is younger than 30 years old.

All Mekong boats have two eyes painted on the bow to ward off the evil water dragon and to see where you are heading

(Every boat we pased had these eyes)

Also there was a law passed a few years ago that prohibits couples from having more than two children since the government is concerned about over population.

When we entered the ancient house we climbed five steps and Loi explained that many homes have these steps to remind people of the stages in live: first step is birth, second is aging, third is being infirmed, fourth step is death, and fifth step is rebirth.

7.5 million tourists visit Vietnam; most of them Americans and most of them do not return.

Ok I stop here with the fact mentioning.

(Banana Leaf salad and chicken)
(Drinking local wine facing vietnam flag - proost or cheers)
(Rambutan or Vietnamese lychee for dessert)

Loi, who spoke very good understandable English (believe me we heard a lot of English that we did not understand and I now understand when people turn to Sandee to have her translate what I say) showed us local markets and the house where Marguerite Duras as a 15 year old had her first love affair with a rich China man according to her biography and later a movie L'Amant or The Lover, which by the way is a movie too scandalous for Vietnamese to see (papa government censors that movie).

(Popping Rice For Rice crackers in hot black sand)

I rode on the back of a motorbike a few kilometers searching for a photoshop that would allow me to buy my own photo card to place in the camera Loi lent me so I can show you the Mekong as we saw it.

We dined on 5 course meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which required Sandee to be appeased, that what we did not eat, (and since we count calories everyday we sent the majority of the food back), was eaten by the staff.

(Vietnamese tea sessions with local fruit)
(Processed coconut outer shell used as fuel)
(Rice wrappers drying above, below Sandee trying her hand on making one)
(Coconut Candy production with measured knife cutting)

We saw floating retail markets and in the regional capital Can Tho (1.8 million citizens) the largest floating wholesale market in Vietnam, we saw a fruit orchard, biked the country site, visited a home from 1887, aptly called Mr Viet's ancient home. We also visited a coconut candy and rice paper factory.

(Each boat "window dresses" their available products)
(Small boats are retailers, large ones wholesalers)
(This type of business is disappearing as roads and trucks provide food faster and cheaper)
( below: Sandee tries a monkey bridge)

We floated up and down the river in our private Junk feeling like royal visitors for sure, stared at by tourists packed on larger junks, who must have felt jealous.

(Liem our engineer on board and small boat driver cools his outboard motor with river water)

(Staff waving goodbye when we leave from left to right: Rat-captain, Liem-engineer, Tuan-waiter in training, Hao- head waiter, and Be-cook)
(Typical waterside scene with fully loaded almost sinking ships)
(Below: a sampan - no motor; junk- motorized ship)


On our ride back I could"translate" road side signs and interpret what I saw thanks to Loi. Many roadside cafes had the word Vong and the number 99 or sometimes even 999. Vong means hammock, where customers can enjoy coffee or tea and then climb in a hammock for a little rest. 9 is the lucky number in Vietnam. CO'M means rice, so signs reading CO'M 99 and Cafe Vong 999, got some meaning from there on, especially since roads are dotted with them, leaving you to wonder how so many establishments can make a roadside living. On the other hand the quantity of motorbike riders zigzagging around cars and buses makes it seem plausible.

(Nursery visit - Sandee in a questioning mode)
(Below owners wife if filling little pots with soil)
(Above the family is always buried on the compound between the produce
And below the fruits of the family's labor is a hundred thousand U.S. dollar home)
(Product on the street in front of nursery being loaded on the truck)

( a bonsai tree in Vietnam has 5 levels: from the top down each level has the following meaning

1 Benevolence

2 Integrity

3 Courtesy

4 Knowledge

5 Truth

These are the wisdoms to live by and a reminder for everyday behavior )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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