The Mighty Mekong

What we thought would be a simple five hour ride in a minibus (what we were promised) turned into a full day affair - minibus to moto-taxi to mini van (which is an awful system of crowding 20 people into a small mini van). It was so cramped that if we were any taller we wouldn't have fit or at least we would have lost all circulation in our feet. Regardless we arrived in Cantho with high spirits, easily found a budget hotel on the Mekong river, ate a pizza (while HUGE cockroaches swarmed around our feet - a common sight in SE Asia and something we'll have to get used to) and went to relax in our A/C room.

The Mekong River is the life line of this region. Endless canals and streams flowing in and out of the river provide a buoyant surface for floating houses and markets, and are the source that nourishes the carpet of emerald green rice paddies. This region, the southern most portion of Vietnam has one of the most bountiful rice harvests on earth - and rice is at the center of their diet, steamed rice, rice noodles, rice wine, rice pudding, etc.

We woke up at 5:30AM to get on a small wooden boat with our friendly English speaking driver, Hung, to explore these idyllic scenes. As the sun was rising behind us, the floating market of Cai Rang was buzzing, and luckily our boat was small enough to get right into the action. Every size boat was selling all types of produce, some piled high with pineapples, others with melons or cabbage. Boats would tie up to each other and the wholesalers would start throwing their goods one by one into the smaller boats to be taken to the markets in town. Our driver bought us a pineapple, which he proceeded to spiral cut (removing the skin), slice down the middle, and with the stem still on we could eat it just like a popsicle. This is the largest floating market in the delta and sits right on the banks of the Mekong.

Next, he took us to a rice noodle producer, where we got to see how rice goes from a grain, to a liquid, to a steamed pancake, then onto bamboo shelves to dry in the sun.

The second market on our tour, Phong Dien, was much smaller and less motorized - little boats with pyramids of all types of produce, lined up along a canal of the Mekong. There were women in bamboo cone hats steering standing row boats. While we tied to another boat our driver bought us a small watermelon, a few mangoes, and more pineapple. The fruit is out of this world.

Hung used to work on the rice fields so he was familiar with all the little canals snaking through the countryside. An ideal place to live in the shade of the banana trees amidst fruit orchards and rice paddies. He helped himself to a few custard apples (shaped like an apple but with a white jello-like inside with stringy flesh) and shared with us...not bad. We were back by 2pm and had a great day exploring river life, its always fascinating to see how people adapt to their environments.