Fishing Village on the Mekong Delta

Trip Start Dec 16, 2007
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Trip End Jul 09, 2008


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Flag of Vietnam  , Chau Doc,
Saturday, May 3, 2008

Cossing the border was interesting...you essentially walk up to this little wooden shack/hut and a police disappears with your passport for what seems like hours. My first glimpse of the country was the most vibrant greenest fields I have ever seen, quite beautiful and rice fields obviously. An hour later I was in Chau Doc, which is a fishing village on the Mekong Delta. It was a truly wonderful and eye opening experience.

I went on a boat ride around the Mekong to see traditional aspects of life here. First I got into a little wooden boat I wasn't sure would float into some pretty murky brown water. I can't even describe all the sights I took in. Lining the waters edge are row upon row of these metal shack/huts built up into the air on stilts, I'm not sure how sturdy they would be but they appear to be the dominant form of housing. Life in the Mekong is fascintaing, with their wooden boats and floating homes and markets. The boats cluster together to form floating markets and each boat has a pole at the front of their boat where they display what they are selling for the day. We purchased bananas and watermelons, you just paddle up exchange money for goods and paddle away, it's really neat. We also visited a fish farm.

Last stop was a real gem, a small Muslim community residing on the banks of the Mekong. It houses 3000 people and right away you can sense how tight knitt this commity is. The children are so friendly while they kick around balls and the men engage in a game of volleyball while the women show off their handmade goods obviously hoping to sell to us foreigners. On the way back we passed children splashing in the water who waved and smiled as we passed by, it's great here almost as if time has forgotten it. Pace of life seems slower and with lots more smiles but then again what do I know.

In sharp contrast the town was a lot busier than I thought it would be with motos, bikes and pedestrians going every which way down the narrow market lined streets. That evening I rode on a crazy cyclos....a bicycle with like a little metal sqaure on the back basically...I rode it with a girl Nancy from Vancouver and we literally couldn't fit on it...I swear there were a gazillion times where we just went into oncoming traffic, they drive CRAZY here, like no rules of the road exist...it's mad! But I wouldn't trade any of these experiences for anything.
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