There was a mob of motorcycle drivers waiting for us when we got off the bus. Ellie showed them the name of a tourism place and they told us it was too far and that we would need to take a ride to get there. I WENT ON MY VERY FIRST MOTORCYCLE RIDE IN THE MEKONG DELTA REGION OF VIETNAM!!! Pretty cool, eh? It was SO MUCH FUN!!! The traffic in Vinh Long is SO much lighter than traffic in HCMC, so it wasn’t terrifying at all – except when we went around corners! At first, I was clutching the shoulder of my driver, but then I felt totally fine and took out my camera so I could take pictures of Hayley and Ellie on their bikes. At this point, the ride was definitely the highlight of the day!

We arrived at the tourism place around 1:30pm and a friendly woman told us that we set up a river tour and head out right away. It cost us each $10 for a 3-hour boat tour of the Mekong Delta. Our tour guide, Suan, was so sweet. The tour ended up being perfect because it was just the three of us, Suan, and our driver in this big long wooden boat that cruised down the manmade canal toward the Mekong River.

As we cruised down the canal, we passed tons of boats – some full of produce, timber, or other things, and some just had a few people on them. There were plenty of thatch-roofed houses that lined the shores. Suan told us that the roofs are replaced about every 4 years or so. Sometimes, they need to replace them more often if the rainy season is exceptionally bad. Along the way, we saw a few boats full of rice. Suan said that rice is harvested twice a year in the Mekong Delta and it costs 4,000 dong/kilo. That’s $0.25 per kilogram! We noticed that the canal was also lined with some kind of plant that grew about 5-6 feet out from the shore. We found out that it was water hyacinths, and that they prevent erosion.

Our first stop was at a cute little restaurant a little ways off of the canal. We all split a plate of spring rolls and Ellie and Hayley shared an “elephant ear fish.” They served it as a whole fish – scales and all!! It looked pretty scary but actually tasted really good…and I usually don’t even like fish! The waitress showed Ellie and Hayley how to prepare it. You’re supposed to wrap the fish, lettuce, and cucumber in rice paper and then eat it. After the fish, we shared a fresh fruit platter with pineapple, watermelon, and rambutan – these little fruits that have spikes coming out of them. You peel the hot pink spiky outside off and then eat the fruit that looks like an eyeball. These are similar to litchis, and are pretty common in Southern Vietnam.

After lunch, we got back on the boat and crossed the Mekong River to get to a coconut candy and pop rice factory. FYI --- The Vietnamese name for the Mekong means “9 Dragons.” The factory was really neat. We watched a guy heat the rice with hot sand until it popped like popcorn. Then he sifted the sand out and let us try the popped rice – it tasted like butterless popcorn. We went to another room to see them cutting blocks of carmelized pop rice (aka rice krispy treats!) and packaging them in plastic bags. When we looked at my pictures later, we realized that the guys who were doing the cutting and packaging were doing it with their bare hands. Being sanitary is not such a high priority in some of the countries we’ve visited! Next, we saw coconut candy being made and packaged. We tried some of it also, and it was so good because it was fresh and still warm and tender. Each of us bought some candy and then we sat down to have a bit of tea before we left.

We turned into a little inlet to visit one of Vinh Long’s floating markets. Different markets sell different products. The one we rode through sold turnips, pineapples, watermelon, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Most people who come to sell things will stay for a night or two to sell their goods before returning home again. To indicate the product being sold on a given boat, the product is tied to a tall pole that sticks out of the boat. I thought that was pretty cool! Some of the boats are apparently pretty high tech, despite their rustic look. There were quite a few with antennas sticking out of the cabin area, which meant that there was a TV! We also noticed that the houses along the shore in the area of the market all seemed to have TVs. Suan told us that the higher the antenna was, the more channels people got on their TVs.

As we cruised toward the Bonsai garden, our next stop, we asked Suan some questions about family life in the Mekong Delta. She told us that people tend to get buried on their own property. They’re buried underground, but there’s a big tomb on top of the ground to recognize them. Families celebrate the “dead day” of family members as a way of annual remembrance. While we were going through one small canal, we passed a place that made/sold coffins. It was kind of creepy to see these wooden coffins out on display! They looked much thinner than any coffins I’ve seen at funerals in the U.S.! She also told us about relationships in the family…The youngest son tends to stay home and fulfill his unwritten responsibility of caring for his parents. When daughters get married, they become a member of their husband’s family and are kind of removed from their own family. Although the Vietnamese government encouraged a two child policy at one point, this is not necessarily embraced. In areas such as the Mekong Delta, families have more children so that they will be able to work and help grow crops. A rising problem is that children are leaving their families to get an education and live/work in urban areas.

We made a brief stop at a Bonsai garden. While we were there, we had a little snack of tea and fresh fruit. I ate the best mango that I’ve ever had in my life!!!! I’ve discovered that Malaysia has the best strawberries and that Vietnam has the best mangos! I’ve never had a mango that I’ve enjoyed eating until I tried this stuff they gave us. We took a few minutes to lounge in hammocks, which was great! Maybe one day I’ll have a hammock…I’ll have to buy my own because mom and dad don’t think we need one. After our little break, the three of us piled into a small non-motorized boat that an older woman rowed. She rowed us down the canal a ways and then we caught up with our boat to ride the rest of the way back to the tourist center.

Oh! I forgot to mention one other thing about Mekong Delta. Suan asked us if we thought the water was dirty and we said yes. She laughed and told us that they think the water is really clear right now. Apparently the amount of silt in the water increases drastically during the rainy season, so the water is quite clean/clear during the dry months. We saw plenty of people washing and drying their clothes in the river. Suan did mention that people usually don’t drink water straight from the tap. They usually boil water before using it for drinking, or they just buy bottled water.

With Suan’s help, we were able to arrange a bus to pick us up and take us back to HCMC. This bus ride was much more pleasurable than the first! It was a newer bus with some serious A/C, which was quite refreshing since Vietnam is so hot and humid – even in the evenings. It’s a shame we couldn’t stay overnight and do a homestay with a rural family, but that’s just something I have to look forward to when I return to Vietnam one day!!!