Near the River's End

Catholic church at Vinh Long

The Mekong River is one of the great rivers of the world, travelling through no less than six countries as it makes its way from Tibet and Yunnan in China, past Myanmar, then through Laos' ancient capital Luang Prabang.  The Mekong forms the border between Laos and Thailand and then passes into Cambodia before ending up in Vietnam.  In Laos, I stood on the river bank in Vientiane and looked into Thailand on the other side, and watched the river flow by the golden temples in Luang Prabang.  In Cambodia, I took a boat trip on the Tonle Sap, the lake swollen with the water from the Mekong in full flow.  And here in Vietnam, we visited the little town of Vinh Long in the middle of the Mekong Delta.

The Mekong delta is best done as an overnight trip (at least) from Ho Chi Minh City, rather than the day trip which we took (lazy to pack up lah).  The intent of the trip was to provide a sense of life on the river, but sadly late morning is not the best time to see the floating market of Cai Be.  And whilst I don't mind seeing how local snacks are made (food is always of interest), I have learnt through experience that no one really eats "local" snacks - my office colleagues' favourite is the the mini-Kit Kats, Twix and Aeros which I brought back from the UK one year.  We did however have a perfectly pleasant lunch followed by a short trip being rowed up the river.

Our tour group was all-Asian this time round.  A family group from Malaysia (two sisters, one son, one friend), ourselves and one gentleman from Pakistan (in HCMC on business, taking a day off before his trip back) made up our group.  Needless to say, we got on very well, in particular with one of the ladies from Malaysia with whom we chatted about shopping opportunities in HCMC, compared notes on our hotels etc etc. 

Boats at the market.  

We left the hotel early in the morning and finally arrived in the Mekong delta where we got on the boat which was to take us on our river journey.  The floating market was deserted, except for the "market boats" themselves.  We learnt that this was a wholesale market - the boats came from other branches of the river, bringing their different crops - potatoes, vegetables, fruit, etc - with them.  So the boats will stay there for a while, until their produce is all sold.  The buyers come to the boats to pick up what they want.  To make it easier to see what each boat sells, a sample of the goods is tied to the top of a tall pole on each boat.  So for a boat selling, say, pineapples, a pineapple will be tied to the pole.  Sometimes it is the boat which is for sale, in which case I think it is an oar which is tied to the pole.  In the mornings, when the buyers come by in their own little boats, it must indeed be a bustling, exciting place.

Elephant ear fish

After visiting a few small shops and seeing how some local snacks are made, we chugged across the river and made our way through a maze of islands and rivulets to our lunch venue. Now, one of the specialities of the Mekong delta is the Elephant ear fish, which is deep fried, then eaten tucked into a rice paper roll.  It so happened at one of the little tourist shop stops, there was a tank with a few of these fish inside, where I took the photo you see on your left. You'll be glad to know that (i) the fish I eventually ate was not this fish; it was in a totally different place on the river - at an eco-hostel restaurant some distance away and (ii) it was indeed a rather nice river fish - nicely fried, light and delicate flesh.

After lunch, we were supposed to go to an "ancient house" and hear some traditional music. However, due to time constraint (at least that's the reason given), the guides said that we would do a river boat ride instead, through the narrow channels created at this part of the river.  Actually, I believe that the tide was low and the larger boat we were on needed to be lightened in order for us to get through that portion of the river.  But the trip was enjoyable, and enabled us to have a better glimpse of the activities going on beside and along the river.    Boys continue to swim in the river, boats (containing tourists), manouvre up and down the narrow waterways, people continue to grow their crops and fish and live on the islands.  The old life, and the new, meld together in this warm, watery world.

For more photos of the delta, click here.