Mekong Memories

I was surprised to see that the second full day of the tour was technically open, with the option of full-day excursion to the Mekong Delta.  In hindsight, I theorize this might be because the Mekong is so heavily associated with the war, but I more suspect it’s a case of some people needing another day to adjust to the time change.  It also allows people to do things on their own, as this was our last day/night in HCMC.  Nonetheless, we signed up for this optional excursion, as we did for every option on this tour.  We figured that if we were traveling that far, we were going to make the most of it.

We headed south out of the city, and as we were going against rush-hour traffic, we could most clearly see the scope of the volume of scooters.  HCMC is rather sprawling, but it had an abrupt border, where we emerged into large fields of rice paddies and small villages.  The scenery was nice, but not the idyllic vistas I had expected.  Again, we were distracted by the garbage, which was prevalent.  We had three Russian-speaking ladies on our trip, traveling as a group, from New Jersey.  One grew up in Latvia, one in Russia, and one in Armenia, and they spoke Russian to one another.  One of the three was the stereotypical “mouthy Russian.”  She kept asking questions of Tony which embarrassed the rest of us.  “Why do people live in such conditions?”  “Why does the government not clean up the garbage?”, among many others.  Most of us cringed as Tony tried to deftly address them.  In reality, we know that given the scope of the economy in Vietnam, the government is simply not able to prioritize garbage collection.  We learned that 80 percent of the population doesn’t pay taxes, because they don’t “officially” make more than $250 a month.  He described how employers are creative in how they document pay, which inflates the numbers of people not having to pay taxes.  I was surprised, too, to learn that health care and education are not universal in the “Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”  Education is only mandatory and free through elementary school, and anyone going beyond that level has to pay for school.  Health care insurance is extremely limited, too, with most things payable out of pocket, meaning that many people simply go without basic healthcare.  That all reflects in the average life expectancy, which is only 74.  I just looked up life expectancy in the United States, and it’s only 77, but now I don’t believe the numbers.  Whatever the case, basic government services are quite limited, and university is also fee only.  Granted, prices are low, but compared to wages, things can be prohibitively expensive.

We were glad to pull up to a large boat dock on the Mekong River, as it meant an end to the Russian lady’s questions.  As at Cu Chi, we were the first bus to arrive, but there were several others when we arrived back later in the day.  Aside from a Viking River Cruise ship nearby, we were the only Westerners in sight.

We boarded a long boat with benches on either side and met our local guide for the day.  She handed us all fresh coconuts with straws and we enjoyed the drink while she started to explain the history and economics of the delta region.  Her English, however, was extremely accented and I had trouble always understanding her through our earpieces.  We crossed the extremely wide river (more than two miles across), seeing many fisheries along the way, before we disembarked on what was called Coconut Island.  Along the river banks we could see the full scope of the garbage problem, as it was low tide and the roots of all the trees were completely chocked full with all sorts of trash; mostly plastics.  Motorized tuk-tuks (the front is a motorcycle and the back is a truck-like bed, with benches along both rear wheels) met us and drove us through the small village to a coconut candy “factory.”  I use italics as it was really just an open building with a thatched roof, under which they were processing coconuts manually to eventually end up with paste, which was made into a taffy-life candy.  We saw every stage of the process, to include the hand wrapping of each piece of hand-cut candy.  We took a break with some tea and fresh fruit, which I should mention was a highlight of the trip.  Not this fruit only, but throughout our trip, we always had the most amazing and diverse fresh fruit, including some very exotic types.  I grew quite fond of the Dragon Fruit. 

Boarding Our Boat To Cross the Mekong River

Our Local Guide for the Day

Arriving on the Far Shore

On Our Tuk Tuk En Route to Coconut Candy "Factory"

Boiling the Coconut Into Paste for Candy

Hand Wrapping Every Piece

After the snack we walked through a mangrove forest to reach a small canal, where we boarded small hand-dug canoes, each capable of holding four people sitting on individual benches, with a man at the rear, driving using a pole.  We then rode through the mangroves and coconut trees, which lined the narrow stream.  It all felt like the Jungle Cruise at Disney, but it was the real thing.  Between the thick trees and palms, we saw many family farms along the way, where all sorts of fruit were being grown.

At the far end, we disembarked and walked a bit, past private farms and homes until we reached a large purpose-built pagoda on the riverbank, where we were to have lunch.  By now, too, we’d learned that Tony went out of his way to ensure we had clean bathrooms when needed, which he called “the happy room.”  We all ended up referring to happy rooms and knew exactly what it meant.  He cautioned us that we would have “not so happy rooms” during the lunch, which again was true.  Still, it was enough to wash up before eating, which was an amazing meal featuring items we watched them cook in a large open-air kitchen.  We ate with the Russian ladies and some others, and avoided any discussion of garbage.

We were visiting during Vietnam’s dry season, and the weather had been quite nice; warm and not too humid.  While we ate, though, a huge storm descended and brought down sheets of rain.  We scooted our chairs in from the edge and stayed dried, and luckily the storm passed before we all reboarded the big boat and headed back across the river to our bus on the other side.  As would become the norm, there were “opportunities to contribute to the local economy” in a series of gift stalls, through which we had to navigate to reach the bus, but we didn’t buy anything.  I was very pleased during this trip, too, that the sellers were not aggressive in anyway.  We invariably had to inquire about an item, rather than fend off sellers who jumped on us as soon as we displayed any interest in something. We were told, too, that negotiation was to be expected, and we did do so, but usually the prices were so low that we did not haggle too much, primarily out of guilt.

Handmade Summer Rolls With Flash-Fried Fish

Large Buddhist Temple From the River

The ride back to HCMC was uneventful, with many people dozing.  Dinner this evening was on our own.  We didn’t have many dinners on our own, so I did some research, as HCMC has garnered the reputation as a “foodie city.”  There were multiple Michelin-starred and recommended restaurants, but I was also trying to gauge practicality (in terms of location), given how challenging it could be to travel on foot.  Before we left, we had read about Vietnam’s answer to Uber, which is called Grab.  We saw countless Grab scooters around town, where drivers would pick up passengers, who sat on the scooter with the drivers.  It was not until we reached Hanoi that I realized that Grab offered to option to order a car vice scooter, but for HCMC I chose a restaurant within walking distance of our hotel.  It was very highly rated on TripAdvisor, and I can now say that the critics had it right.  The restaurant comprised the top floor of a high-rise luxury Japanese hotel, with commanding views over the city.  We had an early reservation, and initially had the main dining area, with a nice corner windowed booth, to ourselves.  The service was outstanding, and we each ordered a different prix fixe menu, with mine focused on beef and K’s on seafood.  The presentation of each dish was over the top, with dry ice, flambe, and lots of blow torches.  We each had six courses, but they were mercifully Asian-sized.  Our cocktails were quite the item too, with mine arriving in a smoker and K’s filled with multiple edible flowers.  This was, in my summation, the best meal we had during our entire trip, and I’m embarrassed to say that it was less than $100, which included an incredibly generous tip.

At Our Fancy Dinner in Ho Chi Minh City

The walk back to our hotel involved multiple street crossings, but we were beginning to get the hang of things.  We were departing HCMC in the morning, and luckily we had already prepared our suitcases before dinner, so nothing stood between us and a good-night’s sleep.