We're Millionaires!

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Did you know? In Vietnam, the exchange rate is 20,000 dong to the US dollar. A couple of days ago, Tom said, “I'm doing pretty well – I have a million and a half dong.” Then he did the conversion and found that he had $71. Oops – off to the ATM. More than once, we've caused consternation by handing a waiter or taxi driver 10,000 dong (50 cents) rather than 100,000 ($5).

For the past two days, we've had a WONDERFUL time traveling through the Mekong river delta on a beautiful teakwood boat. It had only two staterooms, accommodating four passengers with a crew of five. However, Tom had arranged for us to be the only ones on the boat. Talk about luxury! We had cushioned lounge chairs in the shade or sun on the top deck, enjoying the strong (about 20 mph) added to the wind made by the boat – I even needed a shawl in the evening.

The whole area is a bit like the Mississippi delta in Louisiana, with most people and cargo moving by boat rather than road. The Mekong delta is also tidal, so we could see the mangrove roots in the morning, but not in the afternoon. Lots of coconuts, mangoes, and bananas. Dredging is constant, and dikes are being built and maintained now, before this year's rain. (Wet season is April-December.) Rice was being harvested and we could see many boats bringing their cargoes to the rice mill. Vietnam exports more rice than any country except Thailand, helped by the irrigation system that allows farmers to get three crops per year. (Next door, Cambodia's government has not helped farmers build the irrigation canals, so they rely on the rain and get only one crop per year.)

Our delta trip was arranged by the ANZ tour company, and we'd highly recommend Dragon Eyes II. We boarded in Can Tho and left the boat in Cai Be. Our guide, Son Ca, was excellent, as she cared for us aboard and took us on both a village riverside walk and a walking tour of the market in Cai Be. Our only problem was the continuous rain of food – lunch, then tea, then dinner, then breakfast, then a fruit stop at a farm, then lunch … all very good and pretty light, mostly fruits and veggies, but still … Lunch the second day was served at an “ancient house”, all made of teak, with a beautiful garden.

Back to Saigon, looking for a replacement for Tom's Canon S95 camera, which died after its first three photos. Dead – completely dead. We'll go looking today ( Feb 11) and then take our first flight of the trip to Pleiku this afternoon. We're ready to leave Saigon, which is busy, full of European tourists, and definitely devoted to business. Saigon reminds me of New York, the business capital, while Hanoi is the political capital. We're staying in the “backpacker quarter”, which has small shops and restaurants, all lower cost than the fancier 4-5 star hotel district about a mile away. We'll walk over there today to find a new camera for Tom.

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