Mekong Delta

March 16 - 17

The Mekong River runs through six countries, starting up in China and ending at the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. We signed up for an overnight trip to the Mekong Delta to squeeze in as much as possible. After battling Ho Chi Minh's morning traffic and driving through the countryside, we arrived at the Mekong Delta late in the morning. 

We spent a few hours hopping between the four main islands of the Mekong Delta. Our first stop was to see how the locals make coconut candies. And good god, they were addictive and delicious! We sampled all the different flavours and decided peanut was the winner. 

After that we hopped on a little paddle boat. 

We wore Vietnamese hats so that we would fit in with all the typical tacky tourists! Initially it was a peaceful paddle, but towards the end it turned into a chaotic traffic jam. 

Other stops included honey bee tastings, a brief (and very average) musical performance, photos with snakes, tropical fruit snacks and small markets with crafts and crazy foods - including a snake liquor.

The lunch menu included items such as snake, ostrich and even "dinosaur" eggs!

It inspired me to be adventurous. But not too adventurous... Along with my pork and rice dish, I ordered a worm!! The first question they then asked was "Dead or alive?" Oh god...! Dead, please. It was squishy and gross. Never again.

After lunch we spent a long while driving and then motor-boating further into the Mekong Delta, in order to arrive at our "homestay" for the night. Homestay is a fairly loose term - it was really more of a hostel! But lovely none the less. The family helped us to make our own rice paper rolls for dinner and cooked us fish, veggies and rice too. 

Day two in the Mekong started off with a beautiful sunrise.

First stop: the floating markets. 

We weren't entirely sure what to expect, thinking that perhaps this would be a gimmicky tourist trap, but we were pleasantly surprised. This section of the river was full of boats; the bigger ones anchored into one spot, the smaller ones darting around searching for buyers. 

Mostly the boats were selling fruits, vegetables and drinks. The big boats would put an item up high on a bamboo stick so that buyers could see what they were selling from a distance. 

We spent a good half hour cruising through the various boat-market-stalls, quite a unique experience. 

Later we also passed some local street markets. More fruit and veg!

Next up we learnt about how rice noodles are made. They showed us the hot liquid mixture of rice flour, tapioca flour and water. Then they spread it across a hot surface, which was covered for a couple of minutes before being peeled off and laid to dry in the sun. 

We had a go at using a slicing machine to create noodles - simply pushing the rice paper through, letting the machine do the rest.

Our final destination on the Mekong Delta was a fruit farm. We saw how all kinds of different tropical fruits grow and tried a lady apple. Nothing like a regular apple!

Noodles and rice paper rolls filled our bellies before we started the long trek back to Ho Chi Minh.