Day 10: Mekong Delta

Had a ‘lay-day’.  So here are a few photos and notes from a guest blogger. Thanks Bec,

We travelled 2.5 hours from Saigon to Mekong Delta. The Delta has a population of 28 million people and is 40 000 square km in size. On arrival we boarded a motorised wooden boat. We sailed down the river for around 20 minutes before stopping at the floating market. 

We all enjoyed a coconut drink from one of the boat stalls. We continued on for about 10 minutes and arrived at a small traditional community where we were greeted with a traditional musical performance to welcome us. We also heard a mother and daughter's song that told the story of a young girl who was leaving to live with her husband and she didn’t want to leave her mother. It was very sad. 

At one of the poorest of houses we met the oldest man in the Delta. He was 95 years old and had many stories about Ho Chi Minh, It was obvious he was very proud of him. Binh told us about his time in a war prison camp. After the war he was released from the prison however he was unable to return home as he had no money. The police put their money together and finally got him home months later.

We then walked through the village along a narrow dirt track that meanders through small simple houses, some made from wood others brick. We could hear karaoke singers in the distance but the village was otherwise primitive. All houses had a family cemetery that was better ‘kept’ then the houses they lived in. 

We returned by local canoe to the boat jetty. We made one stop at a local lolly shop where we were shown how to make popcorn using a stove top that looked like a pizza oven. We cruised back to the bus and returned to Saigon.