Wednesday March 6 Mekong Delta near Saigon

After breakfast, our guide and driver pick us up for the trip to the Mekong delta.  We make our way through the morning traffic, and then head down a reasonably good highway to the village of Cai Be, where we catch our boat.

The boat awaiting us has large, menacing looking eyes painted on the bow.  We are told the eyes are intended to scare off evil spirits and such.



Mekong River excursion boat

There are dwellings built up all along the shore in this area.  There are also warehouses and shops.

Housing along the river

 

Warehouse along the river

 

Shortly into our boat trip, we come across the morning market.  Boats start selling their goods at about 4:00 AM.  Produce sold here is then transported to Saigon to be sold in morning markets.

The boats selling produce all have long poles extending from their decks.  On the poles the produce or merchandise being sold is displayed.  These boats also serve as homes for the market merchants.

Floating market - note poles above boats

 

This boat sells pumpkins

 

Past the market, we stop by a village to have tea and listen to traditional Southern Vietnamese folk music.  We are first entertained by two men.  One is playing a guitar and the other is playing a different stringed instrument.

Musical interlude along Mekong

 

The man playing the guitar is also operating a percussion instrument with his foot.

Foot operated percussion instrument

(this is guitarist on right in previous picture)

 

We listen while two singers perform a bit of musical comedy.  The woman in the song is being pursued by a man who likes his rice wine.

 

Musical story

We look around the village on the way back to the boat.  There is a tree on the ground with a bunch of bananas.  Our guide tells us only one crop comes from a tree.  The tree is then cut down, and another grows in its place.

Banana tree

 

There is also a durian tree at the village.  The guide tells us a bunch of fruit start growing together.

Durian tree with immature fruit

 

Even though several fruits in a bunch get started, only one grows to maturity.

Mature durian

Another fruit tree is the guava.  The guava is said to have a taste between pear and strawberry.  On the tree we pass, there are plastic bags placed over the fruit to keep the insects away.

 Guava

An ornamental flower, called hoa phuong don is also growing.  When the flower is cut, it lasts up to two months.

Hoa phuong don flower

From the village, we arrive at a woman-powered boat to take us in a narrow channel or canal.  The boat driver uses a pair of crossed oars to propel us.

 Woman propelled boat

Along the narrow waterway we pass by a plum tree.

Plum tree

 

There is a boat train heading the opposite direction which passes us.  The lead boat is motorized, and the other boats are attached by ropes.

Boat train to our left

 

We stop at another village to watch the making of coconut candies and puffed rice.  The manufacturing process apparently doesn’t require sanitation rules.  The man making the puffed rice has his cigarette perched in his mouth precariously over the vessel where he is preparing the product.

 

Smoking and making puffed rice

 

The process starts with putting the rice in a vessel and stirring it.
 

The process begins

 

After popping for a few minutes, the finished product magically appears.

Finished product

 

We leave the village, and head to our lunch stop.  There is a nice pond next to the restaurant.

Pond at lunch stop

 

Our lunch today includes something called an elephant ear fish.  The fish is served whole, and we pick out the edible parts.  When we are finished, the fish looks angrier than when we began.

Angry looking lunch

After lunch, we drive back to Saigon.  On the outskirts, we pass through the area known as Cholon.  This is, and always has been, the Chinese area of the city.  When we lived in Saigon, we would venture to this part of town quite often for the markets. 

Cholon section of Saigon

 

We get a good view of the modern Bitexco building as we are driving back to the hotel.  This is the building from which we got some pictures on the observation platform on February 21.

Bitexco building in background

 

After cleaning up at the hotel, we head out to find dinner.  We decide to go to the Vincom Center food court, where there are multiple restaurants on two of the lower levels.  The Korean restaurant is packed.  There is a lot of Korean investment in the city, which probably accounts for the customers in the restaurant.   

Vin Com Center

 

The other restaurants all have customers, but not as many as the Korean one.  We check the menus, and eat at a restaurant serving Vietnamese food.  Most of the clientele in this restaurant appears to be middle class Vietnamese.

After dinner and dessert at a yogurt place, we walk around in the mall.  We see there is even a Disney store.

Disney Store in Vincom Center

 

There are still a lot of people milling around downtown as we make our way back to the hotel.  Ho Chi Minh City is certainly embracing the 21^st century.