Touring Mekong River Delta

On the fourth day in Vietnam I went on a two-day tour in the delta of the Mekong river. We departed from Ho Chi Minh City early in the morning and drove to My Tho, one of the towns in the delta region.

Upon arriving in My Tho we visited Vinh Trang pagoda. There is a big statue of Happy Buddha. Afterwards we boarded a boat and started touring the delta. We visited some islands and villages. First we visited a place with a bee farm where we could drink some tea with locally produced honey. There was an option to have a picture taken with a snake. I got excited at first but when I saw how many people wanted to have a snake on their neck and how the snake was put on one person after another all day long I quickly decided not to support this show.

Then we went to a coconut candy factory where we could taste and of course buy coconut candy. It tasted soooo good. After that we took a short boat trip along the narrow canals of the delta. The boats were small, only for four passengers and two people (mostly women) doing the hard work of navigating the boats in the muddy waters of the canals.

At another place we could taste different kinds of fruit including papaya and dragon fruit. I really like tropical fruit, mango being my favourite. I also had a smoothie from custard apple and it was really delicious. And we had lunch at yet another place, on another island where we could relax in a hammock drinking coconut which felt great. Or we could feed crocodiles which I didn’t fancy doing.

The highlight of the day was a homestay with a local family in a village in the delta. We were taken by bus to the town of Can Tho. I think I was the only one who decided for a homestay. At one of the junctions I was picked up by a local villager and he took me to his village by a motorbike. It must have been around 20 kilometres or so. The man could not speak any English whatsoever.

When we came to his house he showed me my room. I thought a homestay meant I would stay in the house of the family but they actually had a couple of rooms outside the house for tourists. It was a very simple room with just a bed, a mosquito net (as there are indeed mosquitos) and a fan. A bathroom was shared and was outside.

One part of the river was across a short street (for motorbikes only, not for cars) and there was a canal just next to their house. I was hoping the place was malaria free. Most of Vietnam is a low risk zone but Mekong delta might be a riskier place. I was happy there was a net.

The man took me to his son’s house. His son could speak some English so we chatted a bit. But frankly speaking I always have a hard time understanding English of the Vietnamese. With some people I don’t understand more than a half of what they are saying. I just keep nodding and smiling. That promotes understanding 🙂

Then we went back and after a shower we had dinner. But I ate with the man only, his wife didn’t join us. The meal was really tasty. There were fried spring rolls, rice, fish, cabbage, noodles, dried banana and some meat. There was rice paper, too. You soak it in water and put food on it and then you roll it and eat it. When I saw it for the first time in a restaurant (I ordered it not knowing would it be like) I had no idea what to do with it. I looked around and saw locals eating the same so I learnt by watching.

After the dinner the man took me for a cup of coffee. I normally do not drink coffee in the evening but I wanted to experience local life. We hopped on the motorbike and went to a cafe. There was a bunch of Vietnamese sitting around two or three tables. There were two groups of them playing cards and some people watching. Everybody was drinking something. Nobody could speak any English.

The lady running the place brought me a glass with coffee and a pot with tea. There was ice in the glass which I did not expect, I thought it would be hot coffee. It was one of those moments when a warning message pops up in your mind. Avoid drinks with ice. (Other rules depending on the place are: Don’t eat raw vegetables., Don’t eat fruit you don’t peel yourself., Don’t drink tap water etc, etc, there are many) Being in a village in some cafe frequented by locals only, I had doubts they had ice made from purified water. Well, maybe they did because I drank the coffee and poured some tea and nothing happened.

At first it was really interesting to watch how the locals engaged in the game and conversation, be a small part of their world but I got bored very soon. Watching card games while breathing the smoke of cigarettes is not my idea of spending an evening. We left after an hour and I went to bed.

The most interesting part of the second day was the visit of a floating market close to Can Tho. This is what The Mekong delta is famous for. People on boats come here to exchange local produce (it’s something like wholesale). We also went to see how they produce rice paper and I could not resist trying som local sweet delicacies. At one point our guide started singing the romantic song Right Here Waiting. I couldn’t believe I was hearing that. Ladies were entertained and I was surprised to find out that karaoke was a part of the tour. When we came back to Can Tho we left for Ho Chi Minh City.