Mekong Delta

---

November 13 --- Mekong Delta
The day commenced when we exited the hotel in the morning, naturally there were street vendors pedaling wares. One chap offered 3 golf shirts for $20; Mare got him down to 5 for $10. (Hence forth Mare is going to do all the bargaining, my skill resulted in an average price of $6.50 versus her average price of $2, I know when I am outclassed). On our drive to the Mekong Delta we stopped for a bathroom break at a very nice spot. They were selling small bottles of wine with either snakes or scorpions and larger bottles with both. I bought a small bottle with a baby cobra in it as a conversation piece. I can feel sorry for the U.S. troops in the Vietnam War with regard to the heat and the humidity, today the temperature was +30 C and the humidity high; last week Vietnam experienced its hopefully last typhoon for the season. Vietnam is not a place that I would want to be engaged in protracted combat. When we disembarked from the bus we boarded a type of water ferry for transportation into the Delta. One noteworthy observation is that both the Saigon River and the water in the Delta are a light brown color, similar to chocolate milk. Our first stop was an island in the Delta where we ventured forth to see how the local inhabitants live. Our first visit was a local restaurant where we were served a kind of local tea, honey was put into the cup then a local fruit was squeezed and finally tea added. In addition we had the opportunity to try several local appetizers one peanut based another coconut based another ginger based. A lady came by with python and several of the men had it hung around their shoulders. I didn’t get the opportunity as I was taking pictures. We then ventured forth to a small hut where they processed coconuts into very tasted candy (too bad I am trying to reduce my sugar intake otherwise I would have purchased a couple of boxes. Onward to a local café where we had some more appetizers then we were taken by canoe down a small creek to the river. Power was provided by two older women who paddled us down the creek. (Anyone who says women are the weaker sex never paddled this creek with the skill and consistence that these women provided). Off to lunch where the treat was to be elephant ear fish (not bad but it would never win a visual award: on first glance it could win an award for unattractiveness, but if you were cooked and then pulled apart with chop sticks and your insides then combined with some kind of pasta then rolled into an spring roll you won’t look that attractive either). It was tasty as were most of the other dishes they served. One additional attraction was that they also serve quarters of beer. When I first observed the fish I decided that I definitely need a large beer or maybe several. In some of the tanks as we entered there was your choice of snake (I am not that adventurous).

Some observations in addition to the traffic --- the houses are very narrow by our standards but generally 3 stories. The reason for being so narrow is that taxes are based on the amount of frontage a house has. The first story is always a store (I have no idea how they get to the 2nd storey since in many cases I could see right through the 1st storey and there was never a visible staircase -- the population is very young - grave sites are placed in fields not our formal cemeteries and are in cement vaults above ground.

---

Photos

Mekong Delta
Sign greeting us as we are about to disembarge into the Mekong Delta

Mekong Delta
Sailing into the Delta

Mekong Delta
The lady is holding a frame from a bee hive. No one got stung. Later I had some Queen Bee honey.

Mekong Delta
A young python that you could try on for a scarf. None of the ladies volunteered.

Mekong Delta
Anyone interested in snake for lunch?

Mekong Delta
Our conoe trip back to the Delta