Mekong Delta, the abridged version

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The Delta was amazing. It took two to three hrs by bus to get out of town, past new housing estates 10 stories high, slender terraced houses on a small plot of land (which is very expensive), roadside rice planters (Vietnam is the 2nd largest rice grower in the world, sounds like my idea of heaven). The respite of the air con hotels, shops and bus was very much needed - the humidity sits at about 95% and a lot of the Delta region is at or slightly below sea level it seems, so sandflies and potentially Dengue carrying mossies are rife. Enter the obligatory Malaria pills and DEET 80% that will surely turn my body inside out if the disease itself does not. Travel dr recommended no greater than 30% but what the hell, NZ chemists only stock 80% DEET so it will surely blast those 'suckers' when they come my way. I am loving the bananas and tropical fruit, and I feel so too are my entomological friends.

We all stayed at Ma and Pa mekongs house upstream from Cai Be, and visited the floating markets the next day. They were very humble in their existence, miles from nowhere, self sufficient, but on the main fishing tributary it seemed going from all the night-time activity beneath our pole house floorboards. I think that's about where I lost my torch through the floorboards or mossi net (probably made it's way somewhere downstream 100km to the sth china sea, or upstream by boat 150km to Cambodia). Ms Chihn, the local guide (we have several throughout, who we all appear to have to tip in North American tradition, figure that?) gave us an insight of what her life is like, obligated to family, and very regimented by Western means. Typical questions arose about work, friends, family, reasons for travelling etc. Westerners are very mush viewed here as a source of valuable income for an increasingly tourist led economy. That goes for the kids too - pickpocketing is rife in HCMC and it's always good to be awares that the kids pestering you often are after any coin/ thing they can grab. This is not always the case, and I have since come across some wonderfully innocent kids with huge grins on their faces, while Grandma has a wrily, wrinkled one as she squats peeling Long-ans for the market stall in the back ground, or chewing beetle nut, or both.

So back to saigon and then onwards to Nha Trang. The second phase of the study is the Hedonistic and retail therapy phase.....(next blog)

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Photos

mekong transport
boarding the mekong cruise to our homestay on the Delta