Mekong Delta is a huge river that runs throughout Vietnam. Out of HCMC, there are loads of tours there and we settled on a 2 day, 1 night trip.
The first day we took a fishing boat down a river, saw a place that made coconut candy and whisky, saw the Vietnamese way of harvesting honey, and listened to a traditional musical performance.The fishing boat or row boat we took was relaxing and calm. They gave us all rice hats to wear and we quietly rowed down the river.
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| On the hunt |
The coconut candy was delicious (I'm bringing some home!) and the whisky was strong. Karen and I even tried the snake wine (rice wine distilled in a bottle with a dead snake in it) despite warnings that it was not for ladies because it made you too strong (well we HAD to do it then). It wasn't as strong or gross as I was expecting.
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| Bit of a Bite |
The honeybees and traditional singing were alright but nothing to really be blown away by. We did learn a bit of a Vietnam anthem and we're all singing "Vietnam... Ho Chi Minh..." Over and over again. We may have been brainwashed.
I'm not a very big fan of organized bus tours so when we separated into a smaller group with the other people who were staying at a home stay with us, it was great. We took a terrifying van ride outside the city to our homestay during a thunderstorm (this is how horror films start!). But once we got there and settled in, we enjoyed a nice dinner together. Actually nice is too simple of a word for this delicious highlight of my Mekong trip. We were taught how to make spring rolls with a spider-webby kind of rice paper and then deep fried them to crunchy deliciousness. Then we had fresh spring rolls, as well as a tofu/bean/rice dish and fish to add if you preferred.
The coolest part was when they served us some rice wine. They served it in a plastic bag and opened it by poking a chop stick into the bag through two sides. You then pulled out the chopstick to pour out the wine and used it as a stopper when you were done! Ingenious!
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| Rice Wine, Vietnamese Stylz |
The homestay itself was pretty sweet, even if I didn't get much sleep. It was more like individual cottages with a bathroom, two beds and mosquito nets. Simple but effective. Luckily we didn't have the same experience of the French couple who had a giant spider in their room! I kept waking up because of noises and worrying we'd sleep in and miss the connection with the rest of the group. Nevertheless, it was a cool experience and I really liked those mosquito nets. I felt fancy and a little hardcore at the same time. ;)
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| Our Homestay |
Day two was a little more laid back. It started off with a small motorboat ride from our homestay to join a bigger boat with the rest of our group. We visited the floating market where you bought produce from boats in the middle of the river. At the mast of the boat, they would tie the fruit/vegetables around it indicating what they were selling. We obviously didn't really buy anything, but small boats zipped up beside us and tried to sell us pineapples and coffee.
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| The Floating Market |
We then saw a noodle factory but I got distracted by cute puppies so I didn't really pay attention to the demonstrations. They didn't have enough bikes for everyone to join the bike tour portion so we just played with puppies and cards in the shade. Amy and Karen tried bbq-ed rat while the veggies of the trip, Simon and I, declined.
The four hour bus ride back to HCMC was fairly uneventful, but dinner and drinks with our new friends Cheryl and Magnus was nice. On our last day in HCMC, we visited the Reunification Palace, the head of the south Vietnamese government during the war. We did a quick walking tour, admired and mocked it's 1960s design, and after visiting the market, said goodbye to Amy. She's heading back to Japan and its now just the three of us venturing on. Next stop, Hoi An!
