Today was a day we were all looking forward to as it involved spending the day in the Mekong delta. First a little about the area that during the Vietnam war was devastated by agent orange and constant warfare against the Viet Cong. The Mekong Delta area covers 42,000 sq Km and is one of the largest areas of rice production as they are able to have three crops a year. Total production is 10-12 million tonnes a year if I recall Lôc telling us. The Mekong River is nearly 5,000 km long and has it’s source in China passing through Laos, Thailand, Burma and Cambodia (not necessarily in that order) until it flows into the sea in the Mekong delta. The other name for Mekong delta is the 9 dragon delta as the river divides into 9 branches before getting to sea.
We departed before 8 AM for the 3 hours trip from Saigon to the Delta with a rest stop for cappuccino and wander at a beautiful spot filled with a small lake of lotus flowers. See picture of the three of us.
We had a brief stop at an interesting temple built between 1926 and 1927 to introduce Kaudi (high religious practice). The temple is for Tao, Buddhist, Christian and Confucianism religions however the cenotaph has Swazticas! Supposedly it is a symbol of good luck.
We were interested in the Rural restaurants that have tables and chairs and also they have hammocks by the side of the tables so after a meal you can have a one hour siesta in the hammock. At the end of the hour you are turfed out to go on your merry way. Very sensible as there are two seasons here – Hot and Hotter! Today was a comfortable 30-33C or about 90F.
On the road to the Delta, Lôc was telling us that one’s Home and the land immediately around one’s home can be privately owned and passed on from one generation to another, however farm land is owned by the government and as such is leased but cannot be sold. The farmer can grow whatever crop he likes.
We eventually made our way to Cai Be on the Mekong River and boarded the flat bottomed boat for the 3 hour plus cruise on one of the main segments of the Mekong River in the Delta. We thought it would mainly be in the boat, but after some 15 minutes we saw the floating fruit and veggie market and all the vendors and buyers bartering and exchanging goods. It was very active as it was just before new year and all were getting provisions. It mostly operated as a wholesale market with the buyers being retail merchants. The colors of the vegetables contrasted against the wooden boats of all sizes and the brightly colored houses and shops onshore was spectacular. From Ran butan (like lichee); Dragon fruit; yellow and green melons, turnips, onions, bananas etc the market was humming.
After we slowly filed past the 500+ boats we made a stop at a local workshop for rice and coconut derivative production. The first stop was production of coconut sweets / candy where coconuts are de-husked, split open and the coconut meat shredded either by hand or machine. The coconut milk with added sweeteners is placed in a wok over a fire fueled by rice husks after the rice has been removed. The coconut mixture slowly was heated until it forms a toffee and then placed on a metal table for manual insertion into a corrugated wooden board for shaping. The final stage after cooling involved the cutting into bite sized pieces.
The next step was mandatory – all had to try the 90 proof rice wine. There was a Amber one and a clear one. We all felt that the Amber one was better, then Lôc showed us that the Amber one was made by steeping the wine with evicerated cobra snake. The clear one was just rice wine. This was followed by an explanation with its still of rice wine production which Lôc insisted on calling Ouzo!
The next station was making rice cakes or sheets of rice paper the size and shape, but paper thin, of a large pizza. A rice milk concoction was tossed onto a 2 ft wide “crepe pan” / “Mongolian BBQ shield type coking device”. A rattan cover was placed over the cooking rice paper for 15 seconds after which the rice paper is removed and left to dry on bamboo mats. Sesame seeds were added to the batch we watched being made which after cooking looked like flies in the rice paper, but added a delicious taste.
The next stage saw us watching caramelized rice peanut sweets / candy being made. Similarly to the coconut sweets, a caramelized mixture was made and peanuts added as soon as it came off the fire.
The last production place was puffed rice. Here, river sand is heated in a wok until very hot, rice is then introduced and within seconds starts to pop with the hot sand. The mixture is then sieved, with the sand returning to the wok, followed by a second sieve, where the “Un-popped” rice is removed until the puffed rice is produced.
After some mandatory tea and shopping we returned to the boat and headed to the mile or two wide Mekong River and up a tributary to lunch at a local person’s home. It was interesting that in the center of the house was a room with three altars and going around the back to the garden, there were three mausoleums – two with two bodies and one with one body and the picture of a female on the wall. Ancestor worship is the norm as are garden burials so one can only assume that there were three generations with the open slot being for the current owner.
The lunch was superb and consisted of the usual 9 courses but the highlights were the banana flower salad with river clams and the Elephant Ear Fish, served fried and upright (as if swimming). The servers removed bits of the fish by hand and made “tacos” of fish with greens and herbs in rice paper. We all found it particularly tasty.
Back onto the boat for half an hour to Chin ? Quin Long – forever dragon – were we got off the Mekong River cruise and took the coach to the Victoria Cân Thó Resort for the night.
This was undoubtedly the most luxurious of the hotels we stayed in and had more of a “French Indochina” feel with a French chef and a sumptuous French dinner. Upon arrival we had passion fruit and mango juice served with a cool towel and a neck massage. After exploring the hotel by the Song river – Mekong tributary – the swimming pool beaconed and was very refreshing. Soon after the delicious dinner we were off to bed for a 5:30 AM wake up call!!!!!!
Some other information provided by Lôc:-
> It is the Dry season now but monsoon starts May and daily rains with flooding, which people are very happy about as it brings fertile soil from up river for the crops and gets rid of pests in the houses that near the river are built on stilts.
> With all the motorbikes and vehicles, we were all anxious to know how many fatalities there were, but Lôc refused to say until the end, so finally be told us. 80-100 people used to be killed a day on the scooters but now with drunk driving and helmet laws it is now down to 45-50 a day but more in festival times – he claims it is about the same as the USA on a per capita basis, according to his last group of Americans.
> We were Overnight in Can Tho where 10% are Komei people (previously the majority / most prominent group in the area and from India) and many Chinese are living here. Cân Thó has a good airport but no train service.
> Chúc Mùng Nām Mói? – Happy Mew Year
> Exchange rate against the Dong (We referred to it as the “Ding Dong”) 1£= 32,000 Dong; 1$ = 22,000 Dong.
Roger & Anne Travels 