A highlight of the first half of RTW was most definitely the the slow boat through Laos (slow boat day 1 & day 2) down the Mekong River. We were excited to get back on the Mekong, this time in Vietnam, in the Mekong Delta.
Guided Tour
I took the lead exploring for options for this leg. We opted for a private 2.5 day/3 night tour that would start at our AirBnb in Ho Chi Minh City and end at the ferry terminal in Rach Gia, where we would be catching a ferry boat to the island of Phu Quoc.
Even taking the private route, we knew this was a risky proposition. It's a heavily touristed area and there was the possibility we'd feel like tourist fleas. Overall the risk paid off, there were certainly portions that were on the tourist escalator, but we had an awesome guide Tom (his 'English name') who managed to make those fun too.
Waking Up in HCM City
It was an early start today, we'd been going to bed later and later the past week and had fallen into the habit of waking up past 8:00am. Last night we were out to dinner late with Minh and his family. It was our first AirBnb in a while, so we took advantage of having a kitchen and I cooked up some eggs and toasted some tasty French bread for breakfast. We even had real butter, no Margarine!
Sadie & Paige (usually slow to get out of bed), jumped out of bed despite the meager night of sleep, eager to help with the cooking duties. It goes to show how much they love getting right in there. Bellies full, it was time to go.
Hi Tom
Tom arrived at 8:00am. He introduced himself as Tom "like Cruise". He's 27 years old and grew up in the Mekong Delta. His father is a farmer and his mother sells bread at a market. We had a 2-hour drive to the Mekong River Delta. Admittedly, we knew very little about the Mekong Delta, besides that the Mekong River goes through it...duh! On the ride, the picture of what it is came to life for us:
55% of the country's rice is grown in the Delta
Its nickname is the "Fruit Basket"
The Mekong is receding by 1cm/year
By 2080, it's predicted it will no longer exist as the fertile producer it is today
Long Boat on the Mekong
We got into a boat with Tom at Cai Be.
Our first stop was for a snack, from a fruit vendor selling out of her boat. It was appropriate to start with some fruit; everywhere we went during the three days, a plate of fruit was put in front of us (Papa - you would have loved it ;)). We tried all kinds of fruits we'd never heard of; some we loved (milk fruit was my favorite), others not so much.
Our Mekong welcome drink was a fresh coconut.
We also enjoyed some Rambutan, which we had a few times. Sadie pretended they were her eyeballs.
Buyer Beware
We finally had a chance to try the fruit durian. Often hotels in this part of the world have signs saying, no durian allowed in the hotel. Why you ask? I'll let wikipedia explain:
"Named in some regions as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, strong odor, and thorn-covered rind. ... The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage."
We all took a bite and recoiled. I didn't like it, but I could appreciate as an acquired taste, it could become...at least worthy of a couple bites ;)
Lastly, a bit of guava for the road (or water) and we were off.
Rice Paper Making & More
Our first stop off the water was to a small island/village that was setup for herds of tourist, but we learned some interesting stuff. We saw how rice paper is made, used to wrap fresh (not fried) spring rolls, among other things. We watched a woman and her husband make them in the traditional method.
Popped Rice & Coconut Candy
Next up we watched a man make a popular snack, popped rice. A giant wok is filled with heated black sand and rice is added and well, it pops. We got to try all kinds. No surprise, we unanimously liked the garlic flavor. Sadie liked it so much she asked that we buy some to eat on our birthday, just two days away!
Next up was Coconut Candy. It's made from matured coconuts that are dried for 3 months. The dry coconut is milled into powder, mixed with coconut milk and heated with malt. No sugar added, which made me happy, and then various flavors are added. We got to try peanut that was coming out fresh, it was delicious.
Tourist Zingers
Next up a tourist zinger. I'll just let you watch the videos.
They put all kinds of weird stuff in their rice/coconut wines. Unclear how much they actually drink vs. simply sell to tourists.
Bee Farm
Our next land stop was to a bee farm. It was our first time walking into the interior of one of the many islands in the Delta. There are no roads, just small 'side walks' and farms with pools of water for irrigation, fish farming or to support the agriculture in small plots.
Mekong Broadway
We stopped to hear some traditional music. Watch the videos and prepare yourself for the ooze of cheese...
Canal Ride
Next up, a lady pulled up in a traditional boat for a short ride into the smaller canals, which serve as the 'streets' of the Mekong Delta. She rowed while we passed by houses and farms. An enjoyable break from the roar of the Long Boat. The Vietnamese hats made for some classic family vacation photos. One note, in Vietnam men never wear this type of hat, except for the tourists, like me.
Late Lunch
We were running on a late schedule which Tom has done to spare us from the crowds. The same was true for lunch, which we ate around 2pm. Lunch included the opportunity to cook a few items and Tom asked if we wanted to skip that and get right to eating because of the time. Heck no, the Bohaboys were ready to cook! To the absolute delight of the woman, they watched Paige and Sadie without a moment of hesitation get right into it. They chuckled and chattered among themselves when the Boha-hurricane happened.
The girls helped out with zucchini flower stuffed catfish and betel leaf filled pork. Then it was to the outdoor stove where they helped out with coconut cakes filled with shrimp and vegetables.
Finally, we sat down to a very good late lunch.
Back on the River
We got back on a river for a 45 minute ride to our hotel for the night. We remarked that there wasn't much boat traffic in the area that were going to. I suspect many of the locals who typically start their days at 5am to avoid the heat are back home by then, or resting in their hammocks - which you see everywhere you go.
Ut Trinh Homestay
We arrived at our hotel in Vĩnh Long with a few hours of daylight and free time before dinner. It was a beautiful home stay with a traditional Vietnamese family home in front and guest rooms in a back building. It was surround by fruits tress, vegetables and ponds of fish (who would become our dinner). Tom took us on a tour and explained the various fruits.
Before dinner, I headed out for a run while the girls wrote in their journals & got out Sadie's paint set from Santa. Sarah cleaned up and blogged for a bit.
Cooking for the Cycle
Dinner started with us contributing in the kitchen for the 3rd time of the day. We helped make taro spring rolls and scallion eggs with vegetables...shockingly Paige ate them (eggs!) and even enjoyed them!
Dinner was served outside at the front of the house. There were only two other couples staying at the hotel, so it was a very small group. Other than dinner being interrupted by Paige's bloody nose it was a nice dinner. We chatted mostly about Sadie's upcoming birthday!
Today was a great day. We hit standard tourist spots that visitors taking a day trip from Ho Chi Minh into the Mekong Delta visit, but we're going a bit further tomorrow into the Delta.
Looking forward to Day 2 and really enjoying the time with one of our favorite guides of the trip, Tom.
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