November 9 to 17, 2019
Mekong delta population, 21.4 million
Initially we wanted to avoid regions with any risk of malaria (even low). Medication involves bad side effects and malaria can have serious consequences for children. The Mekong delta is a low risk area so it was not on initial our plan. But it’s interesting how our risk tolerance is growing on the trip, without being oblivious. In a low risk area, there are effective workarounds to brave the mosquitoes: wearing long-sleeves, pants and closed shoes, using bug sprays, and nets.
After reflection, we were going to the delta from Ho Chi Minh City. We first headed to Ben Tre, the Mekong Delta gateway.
Ben Tre
Population 257,350
90 km from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)
After a 3-hour bus trip, a shuttle took us to our farmstay. We entered hesitantly because a big gate was closed. But we rolled it open and entered, walking amongst roosters, hens and lush vegetation.
We had a bungalow with 3 beds for 3 nights. The big plus was a communal space, open to the outside, used as the owners’ office, dining room and for us, an extension of our room to play cards, do homework at night.
The farmstay was 2km from the city and night falls at 5:30pm. At 6pm it is pitch-dark outside. Mosquitoes were starting to be active around 4pm. Once we were going back from our activities during the stay, we were showering, putting on long-sleeved clothes, pants and going back out. We were spraying bug spray on the visible skin and hair. Despite that, Lana ended up bitten on the body and the face though… her smooth baby skin is like butter for mosquitoes. We had mosquito nets deployed around our beds too.
At night, most guests were having dinner at the farmstay, in the communal room, which was great for socializing with other travelers.
On the first night, we met Marie-Solange (Marie-Sol) and her husband Michel, a French couple in their late 60s. They offered to join them on a boat tour the next day, which we did. We got along really well, and saw them again in Can Tho and Chau Doc.
We met another French girl, Sam who left the UK after 25 years to travel. She is currently in HCMC for 3 months, teaching English in State schools. She joined us on the boat tour as well. And we got to see her again in HCMC.
The next day, the tour was leaving at 8:30 am. But given that night falls early and we shared a room with the girls, bedtime was early.
We had breakfast (noodle soup, baguette, fried eggs, fruit) and took the bikes. Naema was sitting on a towel laid on the bike rack and had foot rests, Lana was on a seat attached to the bike with laces. We had a 10-min ride, the last bit in the road traffic… memorable! We got to our boat, boarded the bikes and sailed on the Mekong River. It was just awesome!
We crossed dozens of boats carrying coconuts. Actually, Ben Tre is the country of coconuts. During our tour, we learned how coconut candies (or taffy) are made by local ladies. We also visited a coconut fibers and powder factory. 6-in long fibers are then sent to another factory where they are tied to each other and rolled. They can be used to make mats, and carpets. The powder is used as a fuel for fire.
Work conditions seemed precarious in the factory. Ergonomics was non-existent when we saw 2 gents carrying 50 kg-baskets full of coconut husk every minute. The personnel working close to the machine was not wearing proper masks to avoid breathing dust. The machine was not guarded and employees were sitting on the edge of the moving parts. I remembered the safety rules of my previous company and if they were to be applied in that factory, all would be broken. Maybe we overdo it in our countries but, in that place, people were blatantly taking risks for their health to earn wages.
Later, we rode our bikes on an island in the middle of banana trees, papaya trees, chickens, dogs. We met 2 ladies who were cutting up the midrib of coconut leaves (the large central vein running in the middle) with the back of a knife. Once sun-dried for 15 minutes, they could assemble them in brooms.
This was an awesome day to the discovery of the Mekong delta culture and lifestyles. Our tour guide was really good, her English level was excellent.
After the tour, Sam left on her scooter back to HCMC and we had dinner with our new friends Marie-Sol and Michel, who were leaving the next day.
On the 3rd day, we took the bikes and headed to the market. It was late to find lunch and as soon as we found a place, we stopped because we were starving. Next, we found sun hats for the girls. We had bought Vietnamese hats for them after we lost the previous ones. But they tend to be bulky for travel.
The city was not very pretty so we went to a café and chilled. On the way back to the farmstay, we bought banh bao (stuffed bread) and a fresh orange juice because Naema was starting to feel sick.
At night, we repeated the routine: shower, long-sleeved clothes, homework, games and dinner.
Banh bao... yummy
The next morning, we had breakfast and prepared the bags to leave Ben Tre and go deeper in the delta in Can Tho. I took a bike with Lana to get some food for the bus (3h trip) leaving at 1pm. It was such a blast to live like a local! Loved it.
At 12pm, the taxi came to pick us up. Tickets had been booked already so we just had to pick them up. We had lunch at the bus station. 3 other couples from the farmstay were going to Can Tho as well so we chatted.
Ben Tre will remain the city of the encounters. We love exchanging tips with travelers on the next destinations.
Can Tho
Population 1.5 million
169 km from HCMC
Can Tho is the largest city in the Mekong delta. After Ben Tre, it felt like a metropolis. The waterfront is lively day and night, with the old market – built by the French – now mainly with tourist-oriented stalls, cafés, sculpted gardens, a statue of Ho Chi Minh overlooking a large square and lotus-shaped metal structures lighting up at night.
In the evening, the Vietnamese gather in the city parks to work out or just socialize. While the kids play, the adults talk, exercise or chill out even if it is dark outside. It was already the case in China and we consistently observed this in Vietnam. Apparently, people also work out between 4 and 5 am. When we left the homestay at 5am to get to the floating market, we saw clusters of people walking in the park near our hotel.
Life starts early in Vietnam because of the heat. However, people take naps after lunch around 1pm (we even saw a woman sleeping on her stall at the market).
We saw the Munireangsey Pagoda, khmer buddhist, not far from the hotel. The building contrasted a lot with the temples we have seen in Vietnam and China, including the 3-storey pagoda across the street, which we visited as well. The colors, the very detailed roofs and the building shape looked different, and the pagoda name was written in Khmer (Cambodian).
Bubble of History: The Mekong delta was Khmer until the 17th century. There are approximately 600 Khmer pagodas in the delta, still standing today.
Photo credit: http://www.vietnam-pictures.com/
The big landmark in Can Tho is Cai Rang floating market, where locals trade goods in bulk (veggies and fruit) directly from their boats, in the middle of the river. Pineapples, sweet potatoes, cabbage, watermelons were seen that day. Samples of the selling goods are displayed on a stick. Buyers go around the boats to find deals. Some of these buyers later go sell the merchandise in smaller quantities to the little floating market.
We also saw floating restaurants, serving breakfast, basically a small motor boat going around with coffee and a hot pot with noodle soup.
The market is active from 5 to 7am, so yes we woke up super early (4:30 am). We had booked a tour with the hotel and our tour guide came around 5am to take a cab ride to the river. Then, we boarded a small motor boat driven by an older guy with a colonial hat.
The boat ride to the market was 45 minutes, during which we admired the beautiful sunset, the public lights turning off and the houses on the banks.
During the market visit, we stayed on our boat, going around the different “stalls” and seeing transactions being made. We also captured moments of life such as a mom giving a shower to her 2-year old boy on the back of the boat, roosters crowing and dogs barking. It was lovely.
The entrance of the floating market
Buyers and sellers on boat
Pineapple seller
Breakfast and coffee to sell
After that, we branched off the main river into a small canal where we stopped for breakfast, consisting in a bò pho (beef and noodle soup). We also tried a crispy rice-based crepe with bananas, cooked over a fire. During breakfast, our tour guide, a primary school English teacher, explained the school system in Vietnam.
Bubble of Culture: The school system is public in Vietnam, and starts with kindergarten all the way to high school. Public primary school starts at 6 am, breaks out at 12pm for a 1-hour lunch followed by a 1-hour nap, to start again at 2pm and end at 4:30pm. In secondary school (middle school in the US) and high school, students have only afternoon or morning classes but can take extra classes (like English) for a fee. Most students actually do that.
Primary school is free of charge but in secondary and high school, the school year costs roughly 1 million VND (and extra classes 1 million/month).
The grades are similar to the US: grades 1, 2, 3…
There is a large private school offering in Vietnam.
After breakfast, we headed to a rice noodle factory to see the making process, entirely by hand. First, the rice is ground to prepare the dough (food coloring can also be added), then a crepe is cooked on a cheese cloth above boiling water for roughly 30 seconds. It is then picked up with a stick (looking like a baseball bat) and laid out on a bamboo rack to cool down. Subsequently, it is transferred to another bamboo rack to dry in the sun for half a day. Once the crepe is dry, it is put in a machine that will shred it into noodles, and dry in the sun again for a few hours. Then, it is packaged and can be sold.
Bubble of Culture: Have you ever noticed that rice paper has a rough side and a smooth side? Our visit helped us understand that the rough side is actually the one laid out on the bamboo woven pattern of the racks, which gives the rice papers their distinctive appearance. Apparently, factory-made ones mimic the marks.
After the visit, we got back on the boat and headed to a fruit garden, not too far. We saw a cocoa tree with red pods, papaya trees, jack trees (jackfruit can weigh up to 55 kg), blooming kumquat trees (smelling like orange blossom), lotus flowers (tried the seeds, crunchy and neutral taste), java apple trees, milky fruit trees, mango trees, banana trees, pitaya trees. We got to sample tea with some fruit that we are familiar with – mango, papaya, bananas, watermelon – and jackfruit, which is sweet, mild and crunchy.
On the fun side, we crossed a monkey bridge made out of bamboo. And we saw a local washing a rooster, surrounded by many roosters in cages. We were told by the guide that, despite rooster fights being illegal, it is still going on and the person was probably prepping the rooster for a fight.
When stepping out of the garden, we felt that half a day had gone by and it was only 9h30 haha We headed back to the city, visited the waterfront and drank coffee and fresh juice. The weather was very hot when we headed for lunch around noon. After asking for suggestions in a hotel, we ended up at Saigon bakery to have a bahn mi pâté (sandwich made with baguette bread, pâté, pickled vegetables, fresh cucumber and coriander). Bahn mi is a staple food in Vietnam, because it’s cheap and versatile. It can be prepared with eggs (“op la”), meat, pâté or just plain. This is totally a French heritage.
The sandwiches were so good that we got some the next day for our bus trip.
Some nice places in Can Tho
After a well-deserved nap, we met up with Marie-Sol and Michel, met in Ben Tre. We had a nice evening, and tried a vegetarian restaurant not far from our hotel and theirs. We said goodbye as we were continuing our trip across the Mekong delta the next day, heading close to the Cambodian border in Chau Doc.
Chau Doc
Population 161,500
230 km from HCMC
Around 11h30, we took the shuttle taking us to the bus station where we picked up tickets that had been pre-booked by the hotel. It worked out really well. The trip was 3 hours on a bus with regular seats.
Once in Chau Doc, we thought a shuttle would take us to our homestay but we actually re-boarded the bus who dropped us off.
We unpacked our things in the room, a pretty quick operation given that we compartmentalized all our stuff in zipper bags. During our Mekong delta tour, we have been sharing hotel rooms with the girls and it’s been going really well compared to the first nights in Beijing.
As dinner time was around the corner, we were told to go downtown (2 km away) because the homestay area’s offering was poor. We quickly realized that we had to take a cab because there was no sidewalk and our hotel was on the main street… pretty dangerous with the crazy driving!
Our homestay was great though. Our room was at the back of the building so very quiet.
The restaurant offering was not that big in the central area around the market, so we ended up eating 3 times at the vegetarian restaurant mentioned in the Lonely Planet. It was super good and cheap so we had no problem with that!
The next day, in the evening, we were at the playground and met an English teacher. She said some of her school girls were coming. Shortly after, a dozen girls between 6 and 12 arrived and started asking Salah and I for our names, ages, occupations. We didn’t mind answering but thought that Naema and Lana would have more conversation and similarities. They were at the playground so we called them over. At first, Naema did not know what to say but she quickly opened up and exchanged with the girls on what their hobbies were, what grades they were in, etc… it was an inspiring moment, a live cultural exchange. These girls were talking about their favorite foods, their favorite books (another girl had read the Harry Potter books), and I am glad that Naema took part. These girls will remember this encounter and so will we!
In the meantime, our friends Michel and Marie-Sol had arrived in Chau Doc and met up with us. We went for dinner together after securing a cab for the next day that would take us to the Tra Su forest and the Sam Mountain, the 2 main attractions of the area.
The next morning, at 7:05 am, the cab had picked up our friends and came to pick us up and cover the 40 km to the reserve. The submerged melaleuca forest was magnificent. We traveled through it by 2 motor boat rides. The place was magical! The colors were beautiful and it was serene. When the boat turned off its engine, we heard the bustle and saw plenty of birds flying overhead.
After that, we got on a rowing boat and everything was so peaceful and quiet. The last attraction was the observation tower that gives a 360 view over the area.
Next, we headed to Sam Mountain – a hill actually, someone else than Jacques Cartier oversold that one! – from which we viewed the fields around and could see Cambodia, 5 km away. This concluded our tour.
View from Sam mountain
In the evening, we met with Marie-Sol and Michel again at the playground. They treated the girls with a tour of electric car, which the girls enjoyed. We had a last supper together before parting ways the next day. We would head back to Saigon, they would head to Phu Quoc island. It was much fun to meet them and see them in 2 other places in the delta. I am confident we will see them in France when we return, they are located in the Bourges area.
Overall, we were glad to tour the Mekong delta on our own instead of opting for a quick and expensive group tour. We went at our own pace and did what we were interested in. Within a week, we went to 3 locations though. No regret but we are now in the mood for settling down more.
From Chau Doc, we rode a bus for 8 hours back to HCMC, to cover the 230 km… In Vietnam, roads are mainly 1-lane except on bridges. To pass vehicles, drivers go on the opposite lane. Sometimes we had to close our eyes to avoid having a heart attack because we were seeing another bus or truck coming our way, and our bus driver was going back to his lane at the last minute. Our trip was supposed to be 6 hours but we hit some traffic, Sunday traffic or accidents (it was raining) I can’t say but it seemed like a long time!
Coralie (writer)
Salah (pictures and formatting)
Comments