Back in the Saddle again

  Can Tho, Vietnam
Friday, November 14, 2008

As a pure antithesis to the chaos that is Saigon, we escaped to the Mekong delta. This area of Vietnam is known by the locals as the '9 dragons' as the Mekong splits into 9 smaller tributaries on its final journey to the sea.  It carves the land up into many smaller islands, accounting for 10% of Nam. It is incredibly fertile contributing 38% of the countries food crop (mainly rice but also coconuts, fruit and sugar cane). Nothing goes to waste here, with the mud and clay being used to produce bricks and ceramics. We decided the easiest way to see this beautiful area and its people would be from a bike so signed up to a 3 day trip with a company called Sinhbalo.

As is the norm we were picked up bright and early from our hotels with 5 other Southern Hemisphere compatriots (all from Melbourne to be precise!). After 2 hours cooped up inside a minibus it was a pleasure to step out into the muggy heat of the delta and climb on board an adapted fisherman's boat to transport tourists like us around

02 Canal cruise

the islands. We head off to a man's house where we were shown around his orchard, kitchen and family room where various deceased relatives are worshipped. As we had had quite a taxing morning, we got to taste the wares of the garden including bananas, dragon fruit, pineapple, logan berries and a furry litchi type fruit. This was accompanied by delicious cornflake tasting crisp bread and honey and lime tea.  Feeling replete we set out to the watercourse and where rowed through the water channels in the island. All quite amazing as these people need good drainage channels as twice a day they have the potential of flooding from the tide- even though they were 60km from the sea! On returning to our boat we tootled off to another island for lunch and the area speciality of Elephant fish. We also got to entertain ourselves fishing for crocodiles.

03 Croc fishing!

This basically entailed standing over a deep pit with dodgy looking wire keeping you from falling in, using a  wooden rod with a piece of meat attached to it and dangling it in front of the crocs, attempting to snatch it away from them before they could pounce. Animal welfare and health and safety's idea of hell! Luckily after this we were able to stretch our legs and got back on the saddle again...

A gentle 10km ride followed through beautiful flat countryside, passed villages filled with' hello' screaming and waving children, smiling old woman and the ever present water. It was great being in an area not jaded yet by tourism and the people are phenomenal.  Our first night was spent in what the tour company described as a home-stay. This basically meant sleeping in a dormitory with the other members of our group, sharing communal showers with 2 further groups, showering in cold water and being overcharged for drinks. Not really what springs to our minds when we say home-stay. We also had minimal contact with the family but it was all good. The view from our dorm was beautiful and it was great to be in a stilted bamboo house overlying the Mekong!

Day 2 was started with another ride through verdant countryside. We basically wended our way through about 30km mostly cycling, though for highways being driven, again through beautiful countryside. We got to stop off at a brick making factory which was interesting. They make the bricks from river clay, dry it out for 5 days and then pack 100 000 bricks into a massive kiln for firing for 4 weeks, reaching temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius.  The locals found us as interesting as we found them, particularly the children who giggled looking at their photos! After cycling through rice paddies, duck ponds and watermelon fields we stopped at a lovely coffee shop to refresh ourselves with ice-cold water-melon before an hour drive to a road side restaurant for lunch and delicious wantons.
 
After lunch we headed to Can Tho, the largest city in the delta and to a hotel- a novelty since we are very much on the backpacker guesthouse route! After some down time we decided to wander the streets but had our plans somewhat scuttled by spring tide on the Mekong flooding most of the surrounding streets!
 
Our last day in the delta involved a cycle through early morning traffic (always hair raising as the Vietnamese live

09 All of us

by the rule 'if I don't look it won't hit me' rule which on a bike can be challenging!) to a boat for a pootle up the River to the floating market. This is a fascinating affair. The floating markets pretty much work as middle men between farmers/ land markets and the islanders who travel to these markets by boat to buy their shopping. The boat shop sellers live on these boats and from the sound of things come to land infrequently. Each boat usually only sells one product, which they advertise by placing it aloft their mast! We got to visit 1 such boat selling pineapple, got to sample their product and where thoroughly entertained by their 5 year old son who hopped, danced and leaped around us.

09 Delightful river boy

 
As a comparison we were taken to the nearby riverside market which was quite small but had am amazing array of fruits, veg and fresh meats. We got to watch 1 guy dispense with a frog, skin it using the Mekong and its water and then pass it on to a customer- yum.

We got to complete our Mekong trip by cycling on the opposite side of the river to the market through poor fishing villages, again with beautiful quiet surroundings and friendly people. The cycling trip was fantastic. You really got to get a feel for the area and really felt welcomed by the people- most likely because in the areas we travelled they aren't saturated with tourists. In our relaxed provincial state our nerves were put back on edge with our minibus driver attempting to make up time lost to ferry crossings by driving with 1 hand on the hooter and his foot jerking on the accelerator!