Trip to Mekong Delta

---

Out trip to the Mekong Delta took an extra hour and half going and hour coming back to Saigon because of the mass exodus for the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet in Vietnamese). The city has between 8 and 9 million people and over 4 million scooters and motorbikes. Whole families and their belongings plus gifts for family were loaded on the bike and then they journeyed to their local villages. There were thousands of them. There is a law in Vietnam that helmets must be worn on motorbikes but we noticed that children didn’t seem to be wearing them. Our guide said that the government has determined that the constant weight of the helmet is dangerous to children’s necks so children under age 7 are not required to wear them. I’m sure they are working on something better. We didn’t see a single adult without one but I guess making the fine 20 times the cost of the helmet is a good way to enforce the law. On the way we stopped at a rest area and had some Vietnamese coffee. It was surprisingly good and then we finished our drive to the Delta.


Thanks to a wonderful tour company we had a private boat, The Mekong Queen, to cruise the river. Fresh fruit, drinks and cold towels were provided for us as we cruised down the river to our first stop at a candy factory. They were making popped rice, peanut and coconut candies, dried fruits and rice paper. We sat down and had some tea and samples of all of their products. For the next several hours we ate our way through the Delta. All along the way we were trying berries, leaves, sea salt and beans off of trees. Not to mention a wonderful lunch at a Mandarin restaurant run by four generations of a local family.


On the way to the restaurant we went through the Cai Be floating market where vendors were selling all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and other products to the villages. They were also selling plants off of the boats which only occur during the Lunar New Year holiday. People from the north buy peach blossom trees and the southern people buy apricot blossom trees. They also had plants that looked like mums and sunflowers. We got off of the boat at the Catholic Church and walked through a village along the river to the restaurant.


The people of the Mekong Delta were some of the friendliest people we have seen in Asia so far. All of the babies and children would wave to us and they loved having their picture taken. We saw several animals along the way which is always enjoyable for us animal lovers. For dinner we decided some Western food would be nice since we would be eating Asian food for the next 10 days so we went to the Hard Rock Café which was next door to our hotel. Yum.

---

Photos

Saigon Style Houses
Tall and skinny

Eyes
The eyes painted on the boats are too scare away alligators and big fish.

Making Salt
They buy sea water from a vendor and then burn off the salt to sell.

A Boy and His Cat
It is the year of the cat in Vietnam

Jason's After Lunch Nap
Too bad it only lasted a minute.

Dogs
They put these statues outside to protect against bad spirits.