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Published: July 30th 2008
On the way to Rach Gia
Ferry ride across the MekongWe (sadly) left Da Nang on boarded the "Reunification Railway" to the deep south. Only being a few hundred miles away, the bullet train only took 16 hours. We slept the night away and woke up at 5:00am to the blaring sound of "Saigon Dep Lam, Saigon Uh, Saigon Uh... La lalala la" - translation: "Saigon Beautiful, Saigon Uh, Saigon Uh... La lalala la". We soon got off and hoped onto a five hour minibus ride taking us almost to Rach Gia, but our destination was the small town of Tan Hiep.
Along the way we had to cross the Mekong River, but unfortunately there was no bridge. So all the passangers had to get out and swim across.
Just kidding, there was a ferry that took passagers, motorcycles, cars, and buses and trucks. It was a beautiful 5 minute boat ride on a beautiful day. By the way, the brown water is due to high levels of silt, and not pollution. Or not much, at least, the river does start in China...
Marc's family picked us up on the side of the road (by motorbike, of course), and took us to Grandma's home. There, we were greeted
by a large, smiling family. The whole area was in the middle of the Mekong River delta, so most shipping and a lot of basic transportation was conducted by boat along the countless river channels that spread across the area. Most houses were built along the rivers, reserving the flat land for rice.
People you should know:
Grandma
Di Tu - Marc's aunt (aunt #4), Duong Tu - Marc's uncle
Cousins: Diem, Quyen, Kieu
The guys: Giao, Nang, Khuong, Bai-up (7-up), and Phi (One-eyed Jack)
Kids: Too many to name, but there's a lot. See photos.
Shortly after arriving, as tradition goes, food was made and drinks were poured (or funneled out of a plastic baggy). We were very full and pretty drunk. Welcome to Vietnam!
On most days, we reserved some time for hammocking and walking around the village. When we could convince ourselves to get off the hammocks, we ended up seeing some amazing things. We walked along the river(s) in all directions. One day we got a tour of a rice paddie, frog farm, fish catching in the rice fields, local exotic fruit trees, which we
picked and ate on the spot. We also got to have some lively discussions with local elders. Jon (the resident white guy), spent much of that time trying to justify why he didn't want a Vietnamese wife, which apparently there were plenty of.
On another evening, one of the neighbors let us use their traditional boat to venture up the river. This boat is called a Thao Che, where you stand up on the back side of the boat and paddle two oars that criss-cross each other. It's a particularly confusing boat as the actual paddles in the water are not much thicker than the stick they are on. However, the boat works and, once you get the hang of it, does not take too much effort. At any rate, we got to paddle the boat, and declined an offer for a boat race by a local woman.
On another occasion, we went to visit the family grave site, a few towns down the road (and by "the road" we mean the only (semi) paved road. We began that journey by visiting more relatives and drinking coconut juice straight out the coconut, which was just picked from the
Yeah!!!
Grandmother =) tree. One coconut per person is a lot of coconut.
Once we returned home, more food was prepared and more alcohol was purchased. This meal was particularly great, as it was our favorite - spring rolls. Not the deep fried variety, but the one with vermacelli noodles, shrimp, lettuce, sprouts, comcombre, and a lot of varies fresh, exotic leaf-herbs (served cold). This was rolled in rice paper and dipped in spicy fish sauce. Woooo-eeee, that's some good tasty food.
Some words to know if you find yourself lost in Vietnam, drinking with some guys:
Yo - Cheers
Gang Le - Gan Bei (China), Bottoms up
Nam Moi Nam Moi - Half and half (you and a partner split a shot of homemade rice alcohol)
Sinh - Drunk
When drinking in southern Vietnam, its best to eat dried Squid, Clams, and crabs. Oh, and peanuts. Jon (drunkinly) ate his fist clams...
On one of our daily adventures, we went to the local Buddhist temple. The monk remembered Marc's mother, and we were warmly welcomed into the monestary and enjoyed some fresh rain water. There were also some beautiful lotus flowers in bloom
Group Photo
Cousin, Marc, Grandmother, Cousin, Aunt, Counsin out front.
That day we also hoped on a motorcylcle and ventured deep into the village outskirts, stopping at varies places. It was nice to get out on our own and explore. We've included a picture of the rice fields, but it is very hard to capture. When you go out into the fields, the sun is reflecting off the rice, and all you see is a sea of gold. The fields, we were told, extend for 14km all the way to the distant mountains. It's truely incredible.
After a lovely wet noodle breakfast (Ban Ouc) one day, the guys whipped out the dreaded baggy of rice alcohol and we were drunk by 9am. Lunch was soon approaching, so we joined Quyen at the local market and purchased a black duck. The duck (Jon named him Ducky), was very much alive and quite didn't like being placed into a black plastic bag, although, at least before he attempted his escape. He was later plopped down on the ground while the girls began lunch preparations. Soon ducky was dead and incorparated into our delicious home-made Vietnamese curry duck dish, served with noodles, french bread, and the varies fresh leaf-herbs
Vietmanese locals
haha, Nong La, tradditional hats. and spices. Delissssshhhhhhhhh... Oh, more alcohol was poured.
The kids took advantage of our altered state, and got us to go "fishing" with them. "Fishing" was going into the muddy rice paddies and gropping the mud for fish, crabs, snails, and frogs stuck in it on your hands and knees. It did not help that we were drunk. Soon, being his usual mature self, Marc lodged a huge mud basketball ball at Jon's head. And the war began. Soon us, and the local kids, were covered (completely) from head to toe in disgusting rice paddie mud. If you've never touched rice paddie mud, it's sikly smooth, has a very thin consistancy grey, and slimy. The whole neighborhood heard the foreigners were fighting in the mud and pulled out there chairs and watched (at least 100 people), as the sun set behind us. We went to go clean up in the river, the same place our clothes were washed.
Towards the end of our stay, we took the whole family out (20 people) to a nearby beach town on the border of Cambodia, Ha Tien. "This is a land of ancient pagodas, prestine white beaches, and enchanting caves". Which
we did all of. The ride took about 3 hours and we ended up at a mountain similar to Marble Mountain in Da Nang. We explored the caves along the route. After that, we went to the beach to have lunch and swim in the Gulf of Thailand. The weather was nice and the kids enjoyed the special treat of going to the ocean (some for the first time). Jon got stung by a jellyfish on his right nipple. Ouch. After the dip, we ventured off to another Buddhist temple underneath a mountain at the Hai Tac Islets - "a cluster of 16 islets, which sits in between a shallow water body with the surrounding water level of 4 meters." Interesting, huh? It was a great trip
A few days later, the rice crop was ready to be picked and dried. The family did all the picking before we woke up (an entire field), but we helped out in the drying process, under the hot, scorching sun. (see tan lines).
That same day, after a "hard days work" (1/2 hour), we celebrated Jon's upcoming birthday! It was a special treat, with presents for the kids, a big cake,
Chillin by the river
Niece, nephew, and Jon. special dishes, and more alcohol. The centerpiece of the meal consisted of Ca Loc. This was made by taking fresh fish and putting them vertical on a chopstick, which was then made to standup in the ground. A heap of the yellow papery shells removed from the rice grains, were piled around the fish in a pyramid shape (about 2 feet high now). This was then set on fire. The resulting fish was very tasty, indeed. This was just one of many dishes we had that day.
Marc, being his mature self, grabbed a handful of cake icing and smeared it all over Jon's face. Everyone laughed. The cake was beautiful and was special ordered in advance, because these sorts of cakes are very rare here. Happy birthday Jon! It was a great day, but sadly we had to leave the following day.
On our last morning, everyone came out to say goodbye. It was sad to leave since we enjoyed our time there so much and had bonded with the family. We took the 5 hour bus/ferry ride back to Saigon, and spent the day with more of Marc's family before boarding the train (of course another
The Guys
Drinks...that night welcoming drinks drinking session, complete with shrimp and spring rolls), beginning our over land journey to Beijing. Bye bye Vietnam, we will miss you.
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Binnie
non-member comment
so yellus!!
Wow...them photos make me feel like I was there, I miss grandma! You two looked like natives...cute!!