Photos by Audrey Samuel
The Mekong River is a source of life and income to those who strive for a living along its fertile banks, all the way from its source, through Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam where it flows into the South China Sea. The Mekong Delta has nine river ‘mouths’ that suggests the reason for its Vietnamese name: Cuu Long, or Nine Dragons, hinting at the vastness of the river and its delta. Following a bustling four-hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City to the outskirts of the Mekong Delta, the sight of a deep, wide and murky river greeted us, green trees lining its banks on the other side.
The Delta is made up mostly of streams, marshland, and islets as we came to see through a boat tour, where we saw many houses built on stilts, bushes, trees and thick undergrowth, wooden boats and aquatic plants crowding the surface of the water. On the way to one of the islets, we saw a Cao Dai temple, its outer walls painted in bright colours with the signature left Eye; and many Cathedrals with tall spires, most of them with a statue of the Jesus Christ beckoning the onlooker to come toward the building. Bridges made of bamboo - some of wooden planks and others made of tar and bitumen for movement of vehicles - connected the many islets together. Nevertheless, boats are still a popular mode of transport in these parts, a tradition passed down through the family line no doubt.
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| ‘In Search Of’ Travelers being rowed in small boats. |
The tour guide took us in small boats to an island where we were to have lunch in a restaurant. Opposite it was a mata kucing (as we call it in Malay) orchard; we picked a few fruits, its sweet and juicy flesh soothing our empty stomachs and for a moment, the warm and sticky sheen of sweat on our arms cooled somewhat. On the way, I noticed that there were lots of trees bearing fruits such as rambutan, custard apple and many others. Lunch was a simple affair: spring rolls, steamed rice, boiled vegetables, a portion of pork (to the horror of our Muslim travelers who had no choice but to pile on the veggies instead) and mata kucing for dessert.
The tour guide also led us to a bee farm where we were served tea with some honey and royal jelly, another substance manufactured by hardworking bees, a by-product which boasts amazing healing powers. The tea and the honey was nothing great but the royal jelly was rich in flavour and texture – excessively sweet and milky. Led out of the bee farm, we made our way to a souvenir area where we witnessed the procedure of coconut candy and rice paper production. Rows of bottles stood proudly, their transparent bellies full of wine and snakes, sometimes scorpions. A brave traveler named Farah dared to taste this snake wine and remarked on its potent taste: “It tastes a lot like Bak Kut Teh – just stronger”.
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| Squeezing lime to add a sour tang to tea already sweetened with honey and royal jelly. |
That night, after we had comfortably settled ourselves in our respective rooms, we set about combing the streets – searching for a place to eat, our bodies weary from the days travelling. We found a place called Cappuccino that ironically served pasta, pizzas and risotto, and I have to admit that the pasta I had there was one of the best I have ever tasted (and reasonably priced too!). Across the road, some women were selling Vietnamese straw hats, sugarcane juice which they combined with lime and asam, and fruits such as mangosteen, durian and rambutan.
Behind them stood a tourist shopping centre where scarves, t-shirts, jewellery and other decorative products and basic amenities were sold, overlooking the Mekong River. As expected the view was pure magic; majestic and overwhelming especially under the moonlight.
The next day began early, waking up at six thirty in the morning to vacate the hotel at seven. This time round we headed to a small community where houses were made of wood and brick and huddled close, reminiscent of the urban kampungs in Kuala Lumpur. As we walked on, the tour guide brought us to a house and the very first thing we saw was a civet cat in a cage, followed by pigeons. As we ventured a little further, we saw heavy machinery and the familiar sight of rice paper. Our tour guide explained that this was a rice noodle-making facility, and told us that rice noodle was basically shredded rice paper. Roaming around the premises, we found a pig sty, facing the open area where the rice paper was being sun-dried. Rice is a key ingredient - used in the making of rice paper, its husk used as fuel and later recycled as fertilizer in paddy fields. Most of the Delta people survive on farming the land and producing local goods that are steeped in the culture and customs of the Delta people, but it does little to improve their living standards.
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Traveler Mumbi picking up the rice paper and laying it out on a rattan mat to be dried out in the sun. |
The rice barn was last on the agenda: we walked a little distance away to a huge barn, the air musty with the smell of rice-dirt. Vietnam, we were told, is the second largest exporter of rice - the Mekong Delta is fertile with plenty of water (making perfect conditions for rice production). Rice was separated into six different categories: rice for consumption, brown rice which is also unpolished rice, husk, broken rice, yellow rice dirt, and white rice dirt – each with its own unique uses. The barn had some heavy equipment which was used to separate the rice grain from its husk and also to segregate the different kinds and types of rice products.
The best, I believe is saved for the last. The highlight of the trip was our visit to the Cai Rang floating market, the biggest in the Mekong Delta. Our boat drove to the middle of the Cai Rang market and as the smaller boats were too small to accommodate us all, many had to stay behind. Nevertheless, we entertained ourselves by climbing onto a bigger boat to eat some very tasty and juicy pineapple and drink delicious Vietnamese iced-coffee (my favourite and a definite must-try). Once our comrades returned, we took their places in the smaller boats.
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| Cai Rang at first sight. |
As soon as we entered the area where the boats congregated, I immediately understood why we needed the smaller boats – to navigate through the maze of boats. It was obvious to us that most of these boats functioned as houses as some had hung out their laundry to dry, while others had shrines and pets on their boats. Little kids who ought to be in school assisted their parents with their daily chores. Most of these boat-families serve as middlemen between the farmers from the islets and bulk buyers from the more developed townships. Most of the sellers have produce hanging from a pole, an indication of what they are selling. For example, a person selling watermelons would hang a watermelon from a pole, as in the picture below.
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| A boat selling watermelon along the floating market. |
A two-day tour of the Mekong Delta is hardly sufficient to see all that it had to offer in terms of culture, knowledge and experience. When we left the Delta, I was happy in the knowledge that we were now heading back to Ho Chi Minh City which I came to regard as home. However, the Mekong Delta represents to me the kampung I never had. Since I first learnt of the Delta in my geography class, I had always viewed it as a pulsing source of life, like the dragons it was named after; and I was satisfied to be part of the culture and community that has blossomed from it, if only for such a short while.
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Lochna Menon is majoring International Studies and Writing. An independent woman who loves the idea of a birds’ view of the world, she is very curious - with a mission to inspire and be inspired.
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