Mekong Delta (known as Nine Dragon River Delta) is one of the eight regions of Vietnam; consisting of 12 provinces, forming a triangle at the southernmost tip of Vietnam with Can Tho as an established independent municipality itself and the biggest city of Mekong Delta. Life in the Mekong revolves much around the rivers.
My Tho is the capital city of Tien Giang Province. One of the biggest commercial hubs of Mekong Delta with tourism, seafood and agricultural products as its main economy.
Ben Tre is the capital city of Ben Tre Province, with a complex network of rivers and canals. The homeland of coconuts, thus famous for its coconut candy and the major producer of rice too.
A 2D1N Mekong Tour not only enriched my knowledge but seeing the real Mighty Mekong which i had marvelled when taught as a subject in Geography lesson in school.
Day1: Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho
After about 3 hours on the road, we arrived at Vinh Trang pagoda in My Tho city, Tien Giang province. Built in 1849, the well-maintained sanctuary is surrounded by lovely gardens of flowers, bonsai and trees.
Two enormous beautifully crafted white Buddha statues are my favourite focus points.
The journey en routed towards the banks of Tien Giang River to My Tho pier, the starting point to the Mighty Mekong where a motorized boat awaited us.
In case of emergency, life vest above your head!
The 2,878 meter long Rach Mieu Bridge was the 1st bridge designed and built by Vietnamese; linking two Mekong Delta provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre with a cost of VD1.4 trillion/RM240 million and took 7 years to build. (opened in 19 Jan 2009)
My Tho is a fishing port with about 1,357 fleets of fishing boats for off-shore and in-shore fishing. Recently, the government injected more than VD189 billion/RM28 million in upgrading My Tho fishing port to 3 times larger than the old one because fisheries production is an increasingly important foreign ex-change earner for Vietnam.
Fish farming is predominant along the Tien river. A floating fish farm consists of a floating raft with fish pens, a house for the fish farmer and maybe a dog as a guard!
Besides staying afloat on a fish farm house, staying in a real floating house can be experienced in a traditional constructed floating house at Ben Tre.
Depending on what price you've paid for the tour, lunch was the 1st to show! Occupying 4/5 of our table were 1 deep fried elephant's ear fish, 2 grilled tiger prawns, 2 sets pork chop rice, 6 mini spring rolls, soup, vegetables plus coffee for Wee Nee and me!
We proudly showed our VIP lunch to 1 ang moh guy (not the 2 ang mohs sharing our table in the photo) who was laughing hard at us (this morning while chatting) for paying double of what he paid for the tour saying, "You gonna kill yourself if you know how much less I've paid!". I so much wanted to tell him "You gonna starve yourself now for so much less you've paid". But we are nice Malaysian, we don't do that.
We even had a beautiful waitress to serve us throughout lunch. Delicately, she scraped the flesh bit by bit off the fish onto the rice paper. Stack it with small amount of herbs, rice noodle and wrapped them up to be presented on our plates.
She then moved on to peel the tiger prawns. Then back to elephant's ear fish roll until we can eat no more!!
After lunch, we proceeded to a typical village to roam freely. See how the Busy Bees make honey...
disturb Sleepy Snakes
and chasing the Cocky Cockerel..
Giant Durian- no doubt The King of fruits.
Bigger than my head!!
Mini Pomelo- a cousin of Grapefruit.
Looks almost the same, taste not same.
Water Coconut- a non-identical twins of Green Coconut.
Looks not same, taste same same.
Vietnamese varieties of tonic wine, be it snakes or scorpions wines are world renowned. The snakes and scorpions are artistically arranged and perfectly preserved in liquors. For good health and vitality. Generously served in a shot to tourists for free tasting!
If snake wine is not your shot of wine, coconut candy will sweeten your day. Coconut flesh is extracted, grind and filtered for its milk. Boil it together with malt syrup and water. Stir steadily until it solidified into a paste. Cut into squares, wrapped and packed for sale. No advanced machinery needed. Only happy workers and hearty wages needed.
Row Row ROW your boat gently through the maze of a shady canal fully covered by the shadows of water coconut palms with cool breezes kissing your face.
Turn left, Turn right. Sit tight,
Don't let the bugs bite!
Last agenda of Day 1 were serenades of southern Vietnamese traditional Folk songs while sipping honey tea. Don't forget to TIP before you go.
Transferred by coach to Can Tho city for an overnight stay. Some opted for home stay, majority stayed at the guesthouse while Wee Nee and I were taxied to the luxurious Kim Tho Hotel (opened in 2008 over looking the river) where a full five course dinner awaited us at the classy restaurant.
I'm not trying to show off but because when we told that ang moh guy (this morning while chatting) that the double price difference may due to accommodation differences, he was laughing his head OFF and ridiculed us some more by saying,"OH YA? If your room has Jacuzzi and Golden Beds, I'll come and stay with you!"
Padan muka dia. Now his accommodation was the guesthouse! I so much wanted to tell him, "Hey You 'cheap' ang moh, malam ni ria ria dengan kutu kutu ya.. (Have fun with the bedbugs tonight)". But we are nice Malaysian, we don't do that.
Day 2: CanTho - Ho Chi Minh City
We enjoyed a widespread international buffet breakfast that we 'forgot' the time. The tour guide came running and hurried us to Ninh Kieu pier by zooming in a Xe Om. (motorbike taxi) At the Pier, the motorized boat with the rest of the group were waiting. (Oopps...thousand apologies, but we were staying at a different hotel, remember? and the coach didn't come to pick us?)
The motorized boat took us to explore the picturesque tributaries of the Lower Mekong River where great photographic opportunities were all around us.
Stilt houses during low tide
Floating petrol station
Jute milling factory
The boats with painted eyes were my favourite sights. They always made me smile because they looked so cute. Why do Vietnamese boats have eyes?
A) To help fishermen find fish.
B) To ward off evil spirit.
C) To scare away crocodiles.
D) To weather the storm and guide their way home safely.
E) All the above.
The sights of these boats are awesome too, particularly the women rowing their little boats standing up while paddling with crossed oars. Unthinkable!
Cai Rang Floating Market, is about 6km from Can Tho. The most original and famous floating market of the Mekong, a typical culture that was preserved for over 300 years.
Samples of the available goods were advertised on a long wooden pole so buyers can see even at a distance and know where to shop.
Being the Biggest agricultural wholesale market, trading start at the ungodly hour of 4am and finish by noon. We reached there at about 9am, much of the trade exchange were still in action. It's exciting to see them passing the goods by throwing to and from boats.
This mother and son team was the deepest impression i had of Cai Rang Floating market. When our boat came passing by, the mother maneuvered their boat over like a GunShot. The son quickly put a hook onto our boat and start hawking on everyone from bananas to soft drinks to hot coffee with persistence until someone buys.
Our tour guide told us that this little boy helps his mother in the morning and goes to school in the afternoon. What a Good Boy! A Great businessman he will be someday.
Then came the husband & wife team with boxes of irresistible smacking sweet mangoes. Mango is the most popular tropical fruit of Vietnam and the best variety comes from the Mekong. So, mesti have to buy lah.
Disembarked from the boat onto a river bank to visit a rice paper home industry. Production was done manually in a traditional way. After the thin translucent rice paper come into form from steaming, it was lifted with a bamboo roller to lay on bamboo grid and then left to be sun dried.
Last agenda of the day was at a fruit Orchard - 70% of Vietnam's fruits comes from Mekong delta. There are warning signs on trees, wonder if there are CCTVs around?
'Something' is waiting for us?
Can the bridge sustain us?
How did i overtake her?
The orchard is divided by small irrigation canals with monkey bridges crossing them. Made from bamboo, so called because only monkeys could cross them. SO how did we crosS the monkey bridge? It was so much Fun and thrilling, that's what i remembered.
A VIP ala-carte lunch for Wee Nee and me at a local restaurant in Can Tho. After lunch, we were transferred back to Ho Chi Minh City. Tired but full of memories.
NOTE:
1. Tour prices vary. You get what you pay.
E.g Our US65 package: Tour, 1 night superior room at Kim Tho Hotel, 2 VIP lunches and 1 five course dinner plus special attention from tour guide!
Standard US30 -38 package: Tour, 1 night stay at guest house/homestay and 1 set lunch.
However, there are cases of paying double/triple and getting the same standard tour. Know what you'll get when booking the tour.
3. Accept a country's culture. Don't complain.
