Retrotrip (rĕt’rō-trĭp): Mekong Delta by boat

Not quite what we expected, but interesting none the less. We took a motor boat from Saigon up the delta. Alex and I were able to get the best seat of the house, on the bow of the boat, with the wind blowing through our hair. We saw fishing boats loaded to capacity, fresh fruit boats on their way to market, and kids swimming in the river, waving hello as we passed.

Later on during the first day we stopped at several small islands, and the guide made sure that we stopped at every guide-sanctioned tourist shop along the way. We saw how coconut candy was made, took an unauthentic canoe trip through a fruit farm,

and sampled honey tea at yet another tourist shop.

There were plenty of opportunities to buy expensive novelties. Not what we were looking for, but maybe we've become travel snobs!

We made it to Can Tho where we stayed the night. Alex and I decided it was time for a beer so we found a street vendor with lots of locals. The girl poured our beer and refilled and replaced ice cubes as they melted. We felt much better. We then came across a Bun restaurant where the staff politely showed us how to roll fresh spring rolls. We were the spectacle and no one spoke English. The food was excellent and cheap.

On day two we went to the largest floating market on the delta- the Cai Rang. It was incredible. It stretches for 3 kilometers and hundreds of boats trade and sell fresh goods daily. Sellers tie their goods to a tall pole so that buyers can see from a distance what they are selling.

The floating market here was fantastic and we got to see an up close view of daily life on the delta.

We were really impressed with this and you could tell it's purpose was genuine and was not for tourism. We sampled a pineapple and it's polite to throw your left overs back on the seller's boat, that way they know we thought it was tasty.

Families live on the boats, when they are done selling for the day, they head back to the fields to collect more. Children live on the boats and have no formal education. Small children just two years old hold up fruit and drinks to sell to us as we pass by.

We also visited rice paper and rice noodle factories.

We learned how the noodles were made, paper thin. The factory was filthy, trash everywhere, the floor covered in it. The noodles are laid out on bamboo boards to dry in the sun. Lemongrass is planted around to keep the snakes away (who would have thought that snakes don't like lemon grass!)

From there we went back to Can Tho and had free time. Our guide said to be ready at the hotel at 2 pm. We didn't hear from him until 4. Everyone was upset and the guide was extremely unpopular. At one point Alex decided that he was no longer going to unhappy with him, and readjusted his expectations very low so that anything that happened would be above his expectations. We were not happy that our last few days in Vietnam we were stuck on a bad tour but we tried to enjoy ourselves none the less. Later that night, on the fifth floor of the hotel, we were considered "illegals" (because of our Visa situation) and were forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor in the maid's room. This was my second breakdown, not happy. Alex continued to be happy due to his new set of expectations and proclamation to no longer be unhappy with the tour. Wah!

Day three we trekked up to the top of Sam Mountain to a very old Ba Chua Xu Buddhist temple on the Cambodian-Vietnam border.

What a view! It was very peaceful and the Buddhist shrines and incense calmed us.

Then we took a canoe ride to a floating village. They were having a festival and canoe races as we arrived.

We stopped at a fish farm where you could throw in a handful of rice hull pellets. You'd better step back because the fish jumped straight out of the water and soaked everything nearby.

Next we visited an indigenous tribe who practiced Islam. The children spoke five languages: Vietnamese, Cambodian, Islam, their local language and English. There were little kids running around bottomless, and young girls with scarves over their hair. Supposedly they are able to get good paying jobs because they are multilingual.