Tag: Mekong Delta

The Magnificent Mekong Day 9

Friday, September 1st, 2021

This morning at breakfast we tried another local fruit, mangosteen or queen fruit. You peel the rind and enjoy the juicy segments inside. We didn’t take a picture of one peeled open.

Queen fruit

The picture below showed what a mangosteen peel and inside fruit looked like.

Photo credit: kwanchai.c/shutterstock

Today we took the sampan boat to Tân Châu.

The ferry takes people from one side of the river to the other side.
“house boats” along the Mekong
Another “houseboat” along the river.
Along the Mekong River
The lush vegetation along the Mekong.

When we got off the boat we got on a rickshaw for a 15-20 minute ride to the temple, Thánh Thãt Tân Châu.

Some of our rickshaws and drivers
An actual local taking a rickshaw!

When we got on the rickshaw it was raining for part of our ride. We felt sorry for our drivers. We tipped them well when we got off at the temple.

Sights as we rode around the busy town.

Riding along on the rickshaw
Looking at the businesses along the road.
Another shopkeeper setting up his goods.
Walking her loaded bicycle
A clothing store on the sidewalk.

We got off the rickshaws at the Thánh Thãt Tân Châu.

We took off our shoes and entered the temple, women entered on the left and men on the right. It was ornate and beautiful inside.

Looking out from the temple to its entrance and the river behind.

Another boat on one of the canals off the Mekong.

We got back on our sampan for a ride to Vinh Hoa, known as “Evergreen Island”. It was one of the islands in the Makong Delta. We climbed out of our boat and walked up a path for an interesting walk on the island. It was a rural community with traditional houses up on stilts.

Traditional homes on “Evergreen Island”

The island was luscious with all kinds of vegetables growing.

Papyah
Banana tree
Banana tree flower bloom

Some of the neighborhood children walked with us because they didn’t have school today because tomorrow was a national Vietnam holiday. We enjoyed their company.

We visited one of the local homes and our guide translated with the mother. She was very gracious and after our question and answer time she let us visit inside her home. To get to the home there was a ramp up the front of the home. The family needed that because they keep their motorbike(s) on the porch! The home had a back staircase also.

Local family home we visited.
Our hostess
Tony interpreting for our hostess.

Her youngest was so sweet. He wove a palm leave into a beautiful butterfly and gave it to me!

Her youngest who was in middle school.
Given to me by her son.

Their home was made of corrugated iron and the floor in the living area was bamboo slats. This home had electricity and a small television. The home was very clean and they made good use of their limited space.

Decorations and pictures on the wall.
Living area- clothes kept in a glass container.
Living area
Hallway to kitchen
kitchen
The bathroom
Standing by her stove
Leaving down the back staircase of the home

When our visit was finished we got back on the sampan to visit one of the many floating fish farms on the Mekong. The fish we fed were about three months old. The fish were in cages and fed once a day. The river current helped to keep the cages clean. It was a smelly place.

The video demonstrated the fish going being fed food.

After our visit to the floating fish farm we went back to the riverboat because we were crossing the Border from Vietnam to Cambodia! As were cruised along the river the Sous chef, Chef Sophors and his assistant did a demonstration on how to make fresh spring rolls. He also gave us his recipe!

Tony, our program director gave a talk about the history of Vietnam. It was an interesting talk.

Our cabin neighbor came and told us to look out our window. We did and saw a reclining Buddha up on stilts in Cambodia.

Reclining Buddha

Tomorrow we would have a busy day in Phonmh Penh, Cambodia!

The Magnificent Mekong Day 8

Thursday, August 31st, 2023

After breakfast we boarded a sampan boat. A sampan was a wooden boat that took us to Cái Bè Village and along the Mekong Delta. Boats were the main form of transportation in this region.

Sampan boats
Our Sampan captain
Looking back at our riverboat.

We visited a local family where we tried various locally grown fruits with some tea. We had rambutan, watermelon, mangos, pomelo and jackfruit.

Our family visit.
Our plates of fruit and tea!
The fruit inside the rambutan

We also walked around their property.

Jack fruit tree
Pomelo tree
Rambutan tree
The netting is where they catch and raise their fish.
This is their toilet with a tube that leads right into the irrigation stream!
The kitchen. Most homes do not have refrigerators.

Our next stop was to visit a pop rice factory where we saw the production of rice paper, coconut candy and pop rice sweets and savory snacks!

The workers demonstrated for us how whole grains of rice with their husks were put into a large pot that had black sand from the Mekong River. It was poured over the fire. The first video below showed the rice popping!

They sifted out the black sand and a second time to remove the rice husks. Then the crispy rice was put into another wok-shaped pot and mixed with a syrup of sugar and water. This video shows the mixing to make a savory crispy rice treat.

This last video showed adding the popped rice to the mixture.

Then they poured the rice mixture into the frame, press it and let it cool.

We tried the savory crispy rice treat and the sweet rice treat and both were delicious!

Our group did a shot of banana wine. It was strong!

They also had snake wine that you could try. The bottle had dead snakes in it! A few of our group members did try it but none of them liked it.

Snake wine

The Vietnamese coconut candy was very popular in Vietnam. It was the most popular candy.

Cutting the candy.
Wrapping the coconut candy.

A worker was making rice papers. She showed us the process and the pictures below illustrate the steps.

After our morning excursions, our riverboat left Cái Bè and we were headed to Sa Déc. As we were cruising along we watched the sights along the river.

Vietnamese village homes
Washing dishes in the Makong.
Carrying crops down the river.
Fish farms and homes on the river
Fish farms along the Makong
Working on the river

This afternoon we visited the Sa Déc open air market that was incredibly busy. Click on the slide show to see some of the unusual and interesting items that were being sold at the market!

  • Sa Dec Market
  • Busy street
  • Very busy market
  • Selling her fruit
  • Vegetables
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggs
  • Vegetables
  • Cutting meat
  • Fish
  • Pig parts
  • Meat cuts
  • Seafood
  • Seafood
  • Seafood
  • Skinned Rats
  • Motorbikes shopping
  • Hanging meat
  • Pig parts
  • Watermelon
  • Flowers
  • Durian Fruit
  • Flowers
  • Flowers
  • Purchasing veggies.
  • Veggies.

We also saw Marguerite Duras’ lover’s home, Mr. Huynh Thuy Le. Marguerite, a French writer, wrote an autobiographical novel called The Lover. Only the outside of the home was available because the inside of the home is in disrepair. They had an affair but his family didn’t approve of it and his family forced him to marry a Chinese woman but we were told he never stopped loving Marguerite.

Huynh Thuy Le’s Home

We cruised along the Mekong river. We saw homes along the river and some were pretty modern looking and others were barely standing.

Before dinner Captain Hiep invited all of us to the lounge for a toast to welcome us on board. Besides the captain, the hotel manager, our program directors, the head housekeeper, maître d’ and the executive chef were introduced. We found everyone to be so kind and helpful.