Life on the mighty Mekong

We've decided to spend our last week in Vietnam in the Mekong Delta. Located in the far south of the country, it's where the Mekong River, which begins all the way in Tibet, spills out. The area produces most of the country's fruit, as well as rice and other crops. Overall, the past 5-6 days have been very good, although we've had our share of disappointments, as well.

The best part for us is just being in what it a completely different type of lifestyle from anything we've seen -- water is everywhere and life revolves around it -- from several major rivers to smaller branches to man-made canals. The entire region is incredibly lush with fruit trees all around. Our best experience was our second day in the delta in the city of Ben Tre. We took a boat trip which gave us the perfect glimpse to life in the region. We took a chance with an independent "tour guide" rather than take an official trip, and it was great. We cruised for 45 minutes up a narrow river passed boats of all sizes with people going about their day-to-day work, arriving at the island where the guide lives. We then rode bikes around the island for an hour -- almost all the roads are less than 10 feet wide and there are virtually no cars. The island is filled with fruit trees and most people make a living growing myriad types. We then stopped at his house where we hung out on hammocks and drank milk from freshly cut coconuts while the wife cooked us a huge meal. We ended the trip on a small rowboat going through the tiny canals on the island, ducking under small bridges that we had earlier rode our bikes over.

Our trip to get to the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City should have been an omen about the negative experiences we were going to have. After a couple great, relaxing days, we were ready for our bus trip. We needed the Mien Tay bus station, located about 10 miles southwest of our hotel. Unfortunately, we were told to take a taxi to the Mien Dong bus station, which was about 7 miles north of our hotel. We wondered why we got strange looks at the bus station when we told them where we wanted to go. They told us which bus to board, and it immediately didn't feel right. Lonely Planet said it'd be an air-conditioned express bus; instead, we were on a hot bus that stopped to pick people up constantly. We knew we were supposed to be heading southwest, but after 45 minutes we saw that we were passing through the city center, right near our hotel. At that point we knew something was wrong and realized that the bus we were on was taking its time driving across the city to the correct bus station. An hour and a half after we boarded the bus, we finally got to the right bus station. We then had another 2.5 hour bus ride (at least it was air-conditioned) to the city of Ben Tre.

We didn't have any truly bad experiences after this, but the rest of our time seemed to range from disappointing to merely "good." A part of our frustration was with our guidebook. For example, it described a city (Tra Vinh) as the prettiest town in the Mekong, with architecture reminiscent of an earlier era. So, we went out of our way to get there. We have literally no idea what Lonely Planet was talking about, unless the earlier era was 1970. It was just like every other city we visited in the delta -- big, chaotic, devoid of charm. Plus there was nothing to do.

Other experiences were OK but nothing exceeded expectations. We did a "homestay" on an island off the large city of Vinh Long -- it was nice but it was more of a simple hotel than someone's home. Both here and in Can Tho we took boat trips -- one through a tour operator and one through an independent guide (trying to recapture the magic of our first boat trip). The most interesting aspect to these trips were the floating markets, which are exactly as they sound -- large boats anchor down and other boats, from small rowboats to large ones, pull up and buy their goods. Each boat only sells one or two items and hangs a sample on a long bamboo pole, so that buyers can see what's on offer from a distance. In Vinh Long, we also visited a small factory making coconut candy and rice cakes, an old house that put on a small performance, a bonsai garden, and an orchard. We got lots of tea and fruit at most of these stops; on the other hand, the day felt contrived and dragged on. In Can Tho, with the independent operator, we wished in hindsight we went with the official tours. As we moved along at a snail's pace in our rickety boat with our driver who spoke no English, the official boats whizzed by us as their English-speaking guides gave information about the area. Visiting the floating markets was fun, but the trip ended up being 6 hours whereas the tour groups did it in 4.

At this point we were thinking it was time to leave Vietnam. But at the bus station we made a last minute decision to visit one final place -- Phu Cuoc. This tropical island off the southwest tip of the Mekong is touted as "the next big thing." So, we boarded a different bus to a port city. We didn't count on the fact that it's high season in the south and New Year's Eve tomorrow. The entire boat was filled. After some stress we found a loophole in the system -- pay twice the amount of the printed fare to a Vietnamese person who already has a ticket. That problem solved we next had to find a hotel. Alex called more than a dozen places and, finally, found one that has a room available. Lonely Planet says that the owner at this establishment doesn't always honor reservations, so we're slightly nervous about that. So, we board at 8AM tomorrow for the 2.5 hour trip to the island -- fingers crossed.