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Published: December 15th 2013
Well I am back in Saigon for the night while en route to Da Lat tomorrow. I thought I should use the time to catch up on reports. Brace yourself, this will be a long one.
Today I returned from Can Tho and the Mekong Delta. I arrived in Can Tho on Tuesday afternoon. I tend to always spend my arrival day in a new place wandering around trying to get a feel for the place, which is what I did Tuesday. I greatly enjoyed Can Tho. After being in Saigon, Can Tho seemed very peaceful, relaxed, not crowded with tourists. There were far more random "hellos", smiles, and waves from the locals than in Saigon and almost no one trying to sell me things which was nice. The city has a fairly young population due to the university. It is also bigger than I was expecting with a population of 1.5 million. Spent some time wandering down food street, De Tham Street, gawking at all the tasty street food. I also wandered down to the river front but it was dark by that point so wasn't much to see. Back at the hotel I started talking to a lady,
a Dutch woman named Marjos who was about my mothers age, who was interested in joining me the following morning for the floating market tour. I booked a freelance guide/university student Sen to take me through the markets and canals. It was a welcome surprise to have someone join me because it cut the cost in half.
The next morning Sen picked us up from the hotel at the awful hour of 5:00am. I had mentioned in passing in one of my emails that Dec 12th was my birthday, and although it was then the 11th Sen surprised me with a piece of birthday cake which was a fantastic surprise. We drove down to the river harbor where we met our boat lady. She had a small wooden boat which was perfect. We started off into the darkness of the Mekong river. A few minutes after setting off we grabbed some coffee which was exactly what I needed. I have noticed in SE Asia most of their coffee has some kind of sweetener and they found it odd when I didn't want additional sweetener added.
We spent about 40 minutes or so slowly making our way up the
river while the sun was rising. I'm sure it would've been gorgeous but as it was cloudy we missed it. After a while we came to the main floating market, Cai Rang. It is a wholesale produce market. I was told it can become quite touristy at times but luckily we were there early enough we only saw one other small boat like ours with two tourists. It was great in our little boat bumping into all the other boats as we made our way through the market. It wasn't huge but Sen told us the number of boats varies day to day. People come from all over the delta to buy and sell.
We continued down the river a ways before coming to our first village stop of the day. Interestingly, many of the villages along the river focus on one thing. This village's specialty was nurseries. All over the little village were small nurseries where they planted many of the plants the people of the delta grow. There was marigold, chili, lemon grass, and various river plants whose names I can't remember.
Continuing to make our way down (or up, I don't know) the river we
came to the second floating market of the day. This was a smaller market than Cai Rang and primarily served those who lived near it. They had all the produce the first one had but they sold many more everyday things--batteries, clothe, cell phone cards, etc. We pulled up to a restaurant which hung over the river on stilts. It was at this point, right as I was getting off the boat and onto dry land I had my most embarrassing, and potentially catastrophic, episode. I made the mistake of wearing a very worn-out pair of flip flops (when in Rome do as the Romans right?). Well, as I was walking along this one foot wide, muddy wooden bridge from the boat to the shore I slipped and fell. Luckily when I slipped, both feet slipped towards the outside which caused me to end up straddling this precarious little bridge. Unfortunately Sen had just turned around so was unable to take a picture of my predicament. Everyone, including our boat lady, had a good laugh and the only thing that was hurt was my pride. After we tracked down someone who worked at the restaurant we ordered breakfast and another
coffee. We had some kind of pork noodle dish which was very good. It had in it something I knew immediately but had never had: congealed pig blood called blood sausage maybe? I ate about half of it. It tasted fine but had a strange soft tofu texture which I didn't care for. Apparently the woman who joined me, Marjos, wasn't used to eating with chopsticks and Sen and I giggled quietly as we watched her use them upside down. Sen did eventually kindly suggest she use them the other way around, with the skinny end down. It was great fun enjoying breakfast sitting a few feet above the river, watching the market activity.
Farther along the river we went until we diverged from the river to the small, narrow canals. This was what I had really wanted to see. They are too small for most of the tourist boats to navigate. We didn't see a single traveler beside ourselves the entire time we were in the canals. And despite gripes I had heard from other travelers, these canals were spotlessly clean. So we came to a second village and began a mini jungle trek. We wandered through the
jungle that surrounded the little village and Sen talked about various indigenous plants including the Jack fruit (looks like a large durian) and some kind of apple. We talked to a gentleman, via Sen, who was cutting these apple things from his trees. He also had a number of beautiful roosters which Sen thought might be for cock fighting. We met a few locals who had great fun in trying to guess Marjos' and my nationalities. As we made our way along our mini jungle trek we came to one of the infamous "monkey bridges". I don't know why they're called that but I surmise it is because only monkeys can cross them with confidence. Where the early bridge had been a one foot wide plank, this bridge was a wobbly set of smooth logs with even wobblier hand railings, if one could call them that. I decided it would be wise if I removed my flip flops and did it barefoot. At least then my feet could grab a little bit. Luckily I crossed without trouble. It was funny watching Sen cross because although I'm sure she has crossed many bridges of that sort, she still had a bit
of a nervous look on her face. We wandered the canals for a bit longer and began making our way back to Can Tho.
Back at Can Tho we said goodbye to our lovely boat lady and made our way to an ice factory. Much of the areas food and perishable goods are sold on the street or in markets where there is no convenient way to make ice so it must be bought from somewhere. The factory made both ice cubes and ice blocks from the water from the Mekong. It went through an ornate cleaning process and was then pumped into these 3-4 foot square containers, which produced blocks of ice the same size. The whole process is open to the air but surrounded by super-cooled salt water. The process of freezing takes about 12 hours. I thought if I lived in Vietnam that would be my job. The factory was nice and cool and away from the scorching sun.
We grabbed some sugar cane juice and made our way back to the hotel where we said goodbye to Sen until the evening. A few hours later Sen and her brother picked us up to do
a food tour of Can Tho. We went to a few places and had various noodle dishes, make-your-own spring rolls, and a coconut cake dessert. It was here that I had my second culinary adventure of the day and by far my most daring. After eating in a place Sen used to frequent with her classmates she asked if we were familiar with the Vietnamese duck eggs. Like before, I knew exactly what she was talking about but had never tried it. She was referring to the fermented duck embryo that is a popular snack in this part of the world. It consists of a fully fertilized duck embryo still in the shell--feathers, beak, bones, and all. It took a minute or two of convincing but I finally decided "what the hell, I'll give it a shot". Between the four of us we split two eggs. She gave me one, told me how to crack the top of the shell and break it open, said "drink the juice" which I did (not bad, tastes like chicken), then add a little salt/herb mix and dig in with a tiny spoon. I started with the remainders of the yoke, which again tasted
like any other egg yoke. Then it was time for the real thing so I did like she suggested and dug in. A bit strange but actually far better than I had always imagined. I couldn't finish the entire thing so Sen's brother Nhan finished it off. After that we had a couple drinks at the top of some hotel overlooking the river, Can Tho, and SE Asia's longest bridge. Very good. Then back to the hotel where we bid her farewell for good this time. She was a fantastic guide and it wasn't hard to feel her enthusiasm and pride for her home. She was born and raised in Can Tho and knows the place like the back of her hand. Plus she had an adorable "made in Vietnam" tattoo!
The following day Marjos and I wandered the various back alleys and small roads of Can Tho. I think we were in some places where they are not used to seeing foreigners because everyone gave us a look of friendly curiosity. These were the streets and alleys where Can Tho lives, with children playing and clothes drying in the sun. Normally I wouldn't feel comfortable going into such
places, not because I don't want to see them, but because part of me feels uneasy encroaching on their privacy, at least without someone local with me. It was fantastic to see but I hope no one thought it weird or offensive we were there. We found a Buddhist temple hidden in these narrow alleys and went in. Again, I was initially hesitant to go in but found a man eating lunch and using hand signals asked if it was okay that I proceed, to which he replied with an enthusiastic head nod so all was well. The temple, as most Buddhist temples are, was gorgeous and serene amid the hustle and bustle of SE Asian cities. More wandering, blah blah blah, then back to the hotel for some R&R.
Later that night Marjos and I met two Americans from California at our hotel. They were high school friends and one was now living in Israel. It was actually the most Yanks I'd been with since leaving home in August. They had heard of a cafe/pub that had a happy hour for English speakers. The cafe/pub hosts this thing three times a week for those in Can Tho to
practice their English. Their prices weren't very happy, at least by Vietnam standards, but it was great fun to find the place in the narrow streets mentioned earlier. No sooner had we sat down were we swamped by university students eager to practice their English with natural speakers. I talked to a young engineer who told me that most days there were no native speakers there and they would just practice their English with each other. He had only been studying English for 8 months but was doing very, very well. I had a friendly but somewhat heated conversation with a girl about Myley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. They were her "idols" and I mentioned I prefer Taylor Swift over Myley Cyrus but neither are really my cup of tea as far as music goes. She kept insisting that I "hated Myley Cyrus" and I tried in vain to explain that "do not like" is not the same as "hate". They were all curious how we heard about the place, since it's not very well advertised. I think cafe/pub would do well by advertising more, and maybe lowering prices a bit. I think a lot of travelers would love to
practice English with those from the area.
We left the English happy hour needing food so we found a nice place tucked in near the cafe/pub. Not expecting any English speakers we were pleasantly surprised to find our waiter spoke enough to get the job done without much trouble. We all shared a sea food hot pot. After having the waiter show us how to pour the sea food into the boiling pot of water, and letting it cook for 3 minutes, we enjoyed quite the feast. Shrimp, squid, and some kind of fish. We asked what kind but were only told it was fish. I've really been quite the culinary explorer while I've been in Asia. I knew I loved Vietnamese food from back home but there has been nothing I haven't enjoyed being here. Even the duck embryo and pigs blood were both much better than I expected and I would willingly try them again. It was then time to go back to the hotel for my last night in Can Tho. Marjos and I had a drink on the rooftop terrace and reflected over the last few days. She was off to a homestay farther south
Sen had told me about, and I told Marjos about. I wish I could've gone but it was not in my budget.
The next morning I bid farewell to Marjos and the lovely people at Hotel Xoai and hopped a bus back to Saigon en route to Da Lat. The ride from Can Tho to Da Lat was farther than I really wanted to do in one day. So as I wrap this up I am sitting at the rooftop bar of Vietnam Inn Saigon on La Lei Street near the backpacker area of Pham Ngu Lao listening to contemporary Christmas music. It may be December but having had summer for the past 7 months it just doesn't feel quite like Christmas.
In conclusion it has been an extremely memorable birthday and the most fond travels in Vietnam, and perhaps in SE Asia, I have had to date. Da Lat has some big shoes to fill. And if by chance someone other than my family actually reads this far I highly suggest you track down Sen (http://mekongjourney.tumblr.com/) and let her show you through the delta instead of your hotel or far worse, some tourist corporation. You won't regret
it.
Cheers
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Terri
non-member comment
Fantastic!
Great post, Ben! And if I'm ever there I will look up Sen :-) Your adventures sound fantastic, though I'm not sure I could eat the food that you did. Hope your travels continue to go well for you!!