Mekong Delta: Part I

On Monday, December 16^th, 2013 I set out on my first road trip out of Saigon with my friend, Ben. Usually I’m the only one that has two consecutive days off, so this was a rare treat that someone was around to explore with me. Ben is the perfect adventure buddy because we’re both not big on planning. Our plan for this trip was, “Let’s go to the Mekong Delta and explore.” We did that just, with a map in hand and a vague idea of where we were going.

^Ben post-petrol fill, reading for our journey!  (He made us wear our Saigon 'vests,' as British people call them)

We headed out to the My Tho/Ben Tre part of the Delta because of its close proximity to Saigon. On the drive we passed loads of cafes called “Café Vong,” which looked just like giant rest areas with hammocks. We kept shouting “Café Vong!” every time we passed one, which was pretty much every five minutes. There are also weird leaving/entering city signs throughout the highway, which we narrated in-between the children songs that we sang during the journey. We ended up stopping at a café that was not a Café Vong, but still had hammocks nonetheless (and we even got some free mystery fruit!) It looked sort of like a pear, but with a gooey pit…and it was overall more gooey experience (but luckily Ben had hand wipes). Despite the mess, it was sweet and pleasant.

               ^Mystery fruit

The time it took to get to My Tho was much less than what we had anticipated. It also looked more commercial than what I had envisioned the Mekong Delta surrounding towns to be. Thus, we pulled over and looked at my phone for Google maps for directions to Ben Tre. In the process we met some clingy xe ohm drivers. One of them asked Ben for his permission to kiss me. He was probably about 60 years old. So naturally, I politely declined.

It took us about 15 minutes to get to Ben Tre from My Tho. We found a place on the main road along the river called Hung Vuong hotel, which I got a kick out of because I work at Hung Vuong plaza in Ho Chi Minh City. I couldn’t stop shouting the name in a thick Vietnamese accent. I was only able to do so from repeatedly hearing this from various xe ohm drivers when I first arrived.

We got ourselves sorted at the hotel and then set out to adventure. We wandered around trying to find a boat. We had high hopes to find our own, but that became increasingly out of the question. As two wandering nomads, we couldn’t for the life of us understand why anyone would be locked into the mentality that every visitor should book a tour and do the same commercial thing. While tours can be insightful and enjoyable, they can also overlook the cultural charm and intimacy of a place. On the end of the spectrum, the locals thought it was bizarre that we would want to do anything other than the pre-planned mainstream activities. The thought of letting two Westerners out on their own in a boat was terrifying to them.

With limited options at hand, we decided to hit up the random guy who offered us a boat tour on the street. We popped into a shop and bought some beers and some jackfruit for the journey. The guy put us on two xe ohms which brought us about twenty minutes away (back towards My Tho..ironically). We then took a boat out on the Mekong from there.

The boat was really nice. It was just the two of us and a local Vietnamese woman who took us throughout various parts of the Mekong Delta. It was nice to avoid the major tourist crowd (although I really don't think there was one at the time...we rarely saw white people. We were basically the only hooligans skipping around...which we literally did because both Ben and myself are large children who love to play). She brought us to a smaller island, where we drank some delicious tea with honey and had some peanut snacks. We found it hilarious that we both had absolutely no idea what was going on or where we were going next the entire time. It was all part of the fun.

After we had our honey tea and snacks, we were brought to a canoe, where two people rowed us through the backwaters of the Mekong Delta. Here, I arrived at my original picture of the Delta. I was craving the little nooks and crannies that spewed adventure and here they were. It was beautiful and charming. I love nothing more than not knowing what to expect once your turn the corner, and these little pathways offered just that.