Day 20

10 May 2013

Vinh Long – Ben Loc

The market in Vinh Long was very interesting this morning. Being on the river it offered an enormous variety of fish some of them I had never seen before.

Besides fish there was also a choice of snakes, turtles, frogs and the like. I filmed a lady who was casually chatting with her neighbor will preparing her frogs for sale. So what was she doing? She grabbed a frog out of a bag, with scissors cut off its head and then skinned the animal. After, she threw them in a bowl with the other frogs who previously went through the same treatment. The disturbing thing was that they still jumped around without their skin and without their heads. Well, strange for me perhaps. I thought about it for a while and had to conclude that if they had no head they have now brain to give them a pain impulse. Does that make me feel better? No not really.

The hotel was adjacent to the local market and had the customary eating section under the roof. Inside the market is always a bit of smoke due to the cooking fires but it forms part of the total picture of what the life for locals is like. You can eat a variety of food but usually I stick to noodles with some additional items like meat or vegetables. I always enjoy sitting next to an old person as they often can speak some English. After putting in my order by means of pointing at things I sat down and was immediately involved in a conversation with my nabour. After the "where are you from" etc I was getting the “how old are you” Well I am 63 if you really want to know. The man next to me looked 80 but was in fact 57, he said. He was there with his mum of 92.

I needed to make a run back toward Saigon so headed east as I did not want to back track the same way. Going in the direction of a big city is always easy as there was no lack of signs pointing to Ho Chi Min City.

Via some undisclosed directions and conversions and a two river crossing I arrived in Ben Loc near Saigon. It was peak hour in Saigon so better to find somewhere local to stay. There is no tourism in Ben Loc as it has nothing to offer and if it had it would be reached from Saigon anyway. Near the bus station I found a hotel just by chance. I have no idea what the Vietnamese name for “hotel “is but I just happen to stop there to check my map. The front of the small building could have been an office of some sort, it was just a case that I had arrived at the right time as I saw some people arriving taking their suitcase inside. I entered but no one spoke a word of English.

Never mind a few minutes later I had a very basic room with a fan. Basic room, basic bed, basic shower. All that for $2.75 for the night. A nearby Pho (noodle) shop was the only choice for something to eat , sharing space with local people only. Great!