Leaving Saigon, we spent the next two and half days exploring the Mekong River Delta, traveling southwest to Can Tho and then northwest to Chau Doc, sometimes by boat and sometimes by bus, before taking a “speed boat” up the river into Cambodia, arriving in Phnom Penh.

Along the way, we traveled by tourist boat to a landing where we walked along a rural neighborhood built into the jungle, surrounded by flowering plants, fruit gardens, and rural homes, some very modest and some being redone. The Delta region gets ample rain and is criss-crossed by rivers, so everything is lushly green. We rode in truck-like scooters, six passengers each, and walked to a rural home where we met the owner and his family. The house has been in his family for over 150 years, and the family shows great pride in their history. When communist rule came to South Vietnam, all of the land became the property of the state; but when rice production fell during the first ten years, the second government started returning the land to the previous owners in the form of perpetual use permits. So while the family owns their home and its immediate surroundings, they also farm the fields which they previously owned but now manage, reaping most of the profits. Later, we boarded three-person sampans where we made our way up a small tributary to return to the main river.

At Can Tho, we experienced a quite unique floating produce market, similar to an American farmers’ market only the farmers transport their goods via boat and sell to other boats along the river. A buzz of activity and color, we spent quite a while circling the market before walking through an urban neighborhood and commerce area before heading to Chau Doc.

At Chau Doc, we were able to visit a bird sanctuary near dusk where we saw (but were barely able to photograph) a nice array of various water birds. From the parking area, we rode on the backs of scooters along dirt roads into the sanctuary where we boarded flat-bottom boats to travel the main waterways. Further in, we again boarded sampans to explore shallower, narrower regions before returning to town. The weather throughout the trip, by the way, has been hot and humid, so we always welcome the evening return to cool showers and air conditioning.