HELTER SKELER, MEKONG DELTA- Deep South, Vietnam

....previously, our trip to Sangkhlaburi, Thailand....

On arrival in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh we waited two hours with all the other foreigners to receive our visa on arrival before easily finding the bus to the “backpacker area” Pham Ngu Lao. Already tired, we had to fight our way through the Saturday night party crowds to an overpriced room (all that seems to be available in Saigon), and collapsed into bed. The following day was slightly improved when we found a more characterful part of the city filled with lovely mango coloured colonial and Art Deco buildings. It's shame our budget didn't stretch to staying at one of the fancy, historic five star beauties around there! Although the city's resident's were lovely, Sal, in particular, couldn't stand the traffic, loud music, bars, prostitutes and high prices for everything and we quickly made a plan to escape to the Mekong Delta.

Street decoration, Saigon, Vietnam

Coming into Saigon airport

Typical traffic jam, Saigon, Vietnam

Activity in Pham Ngu Lao, Saigon, Vietnam

A typical electrical tangle, Saigon, Vietnam

Laneway, Saigon, Vietnam

Taking a break, Saigon, Vietnam

Grand flooring, Saigon, Vietnam

Colonial beauty (not Rich), Saigon Central Post Office, Vietnam

Saigon streets, Vietnam

A couple of long bus rides took us along chaotic and dusty highways lined with shops and basic cafes, and full of noisy trucks, buses and millions of motorbikes. The Mekong Delta region was filled with an incredible array of canals and rivers- working waterways, filled with all manner of boats and criss crossed by a vast array of bridges and ferries. The neat and prosperous small towns we visited over three weeks were not exactly the lazy rural villages we were expecting, but we greatly enjoyed being out of the city and noticed immediately how differently people reacted to us, not being very familiar with foreign faces. Markets, riverside walks, floating houses, tropical fruit orchards, nurseries and rice fields all characterised the region. Our route was rather haphazard in nature (hence the title of the blog), and took us to places with wide ranging points of interest.

An array of boats on the river, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Lost in the undergrowth, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Typical market, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Cute faces on boats, Mekong Delta, Vietnam  

Floating houses, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Market place, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Interestingly named beer, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

We very quickly changed our expectations about the Vietnamese. It's been 14 years since we last visited, and we were only in the north that time. Any ideas about being hassled, ripped off or scammed were immediately quashed, and we soon began to relax and trust people. One funny experience saw a bus conductor taking three times more than what we knew the correct fare to be. But when he saw us getting off earlier than he had anticipated, he rushed over and gave us the exact amount of money back!

Vegetable seller, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Smiley ferry man, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Ancient looking lady, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Vietnamese hats, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Army guards, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Little cutie, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Highlights of our three weeks in the Mekong Delta.

Discovering our first (of many) riverside markets in Ben Tre. The variety of goods on display was completely different to other South East Asian markets, and we spent hours slowly walking, looking and taking in the contrasting foods. The fruits, especially, were overwhelming, and we particularly got into the delicious pomelos, which are something like an Asian version of grapefruits. Ben Tre was also where we first saw the hugely popular bonsai trees of all sizes, and Rich was especially entranced with the trees and the process and great care involved in making and looking after them.

Training the bonsai trees, Ben Tre, Vietnam

The end result

Coconut man, Ben Tre, Vietnam

Quiet time at the market, Ben Tre, Vietnam

Greens galore, Ben Tre, Vietnam

Cluttered stall, Ben Tre, Vietnam (spot the kittys!)

The place to buy the protectors EVERYONE wears on their faces/arms

A motorbike ride around Tra Vinh to visit the various Khmer temples, or pagodas, in the area. Although they differed from Vietnamese temples in appearance, they were all quite similar to each other, with a lot of gold and images of Buddha with Angkor Wat in the background. Being so close to the Cambodian border, many towns in the Mekong Delta have large populations of Khmer people, and Tra Vinh's is one of the biggest. The Khmers are one of Vietnam's 53 ethnic minorities, and over the years their cultural heritage has been eroded due to pressure from the Vietnamese authorities to adopt a more Vietnamese way of life, educate them in Vietnamese and discourage them from using their language. We had a very interesting conversation with a motivated Khmer monk at a pagoda, who spoke enough English to able to express his dismay at this situation.
* A funny aside- We sat down for our picnic lunch in Tra Vinh on the river bank to discover that precise place was the local toilet! *

Khmer pagoda, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Khmer style decoration, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Our talkative monk friend, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Kids mucking around at temple, Tra Vinh, Vietnam  There seemed to be a lack of children in Vietnam- maybe it's because we're used to traveling in places like Indonesia where they have big families

Statues depicting Buddha's life, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Happy group of female nuns, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Lovely colours, Khmer pagoda, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Painting depicting baby Buddha with Angkor Wat in the background, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Colourful Khmer pagoda, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Interior of temple showing Angkor Wat, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

LOVE this colour! Khmer temple, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Market ladies, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Old wall and window, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Dried fish man, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Confusing signs on the waterways, Tra Vinh, Vietnam

Exploring the pretty town of Vinh Long with it's tree lined streets and many river walking opportunities.......we just loved it there. There weren't many “sights” as such, but we had a great welcoming family hotel to stay in, a swanky cafe over the road, a juice joint around the corner run by two beautiful sisters and many appetizing eating options. Add to that the biggest and best market we came across in the Delta and the nicest people we had met in Vietnam. Even if they couldn't say anything else in English, many enthusiastically called “Hello”or smiled shyly and waved. The only downside of Vinh Long, which we weren't to see anywhere else, were the many beggars on the streets.

Vinh Long market

Cross river ferry, Vinh Long, Vietnam

Flower ladies, Vinh Long, Vietnam

Cleaning fish, Vinh Long, Vietnam

A quieter part of Vinh Long, Vietnam

Old doorway, Vinh Long, Vietnam

Rather large temple room, Vinh Long, Vietnam

Headless skinned frogs (still moving), Vinh Long, Vietnam

Keeping up the intake of liquids, Vinh Long, Vietnam

Finally discovering a tiny shop making it's own fresh beer- in Sa Dec, of all places. It's known as beer hoi in the north, and was one of our favourite parts of our first trip to Vietnam. We loved sitting in the little plastic chairs out the front of whichever business was selling the beer as a side line and watching the street and people. The beer was always cold, delicious and economical at 14,000 dong (AU$0.80) for a large plastic bottle. We had been told it was not as prevalent in the south, and this was the first one we had come upon. We had a very merry afternoon after downing a couple of bottles!

Ready to go! Rich, Sa Dec, Vietnam

Pretty church, Sa Dec, Vietnam

Flower sellers, Sa Dec, Vietnam

Compost boats, Sa Dec, Vietnam

New friend, beer hoi joint, Sa Dec, Vietnam

Walking the shady, traffic free and extremely friendly river side lanes of the Cham villages in Chau Doc. Cham people are a Muslim ethnic minority group in Western Vietnam, although there are Hindu Chams in other parts of Vietnam, and also Chams in Cambodia and Malaysia. We found their villages with their small wooden houses, some on stilts over the water, the most charming part of our visit to Chau Doc. We had enjoyed the warmness of people in general in the Mekong Delta, but these were the most smiley and happy to see us that we encountered. It was also strange to see the hijab on Vietnamese women and hear the call to prayer in the distance!

Historic house by the river, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Wooden Muslim house, Chau Doc, Vietnam  Nearby we saw a man hock up a phlegm ball onto the floor where he was sitting eating his lunch 

Lovely smiley lady on her porch, Chau Doc, Vietnam

A shy smile, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Hanging out, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Stilt houses along the river, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Walking by the river, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Young Cham girl, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Drying fish in the sun, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Another picturesque bridge, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Small scale incense making, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Viewing riverside life from a small boat we hired from a mother and daughter one morning in Chau Doc. Definitely a touristy experience, we still found aspects of the ride interesting. The floating market mainly comprised of large boats selling sizeable amounts of fruit wholesale and the small fish farm in what looked like a floating house was a cute wee enterprise. Watching the houses on stilts from the water, and boats speeding by going about their business was a very pleasant way to spend a morning.
* A funny aside- Our room in Chau Doc had a loudspeaker in the street out the front, which started with “news” at 5.30am every morning! It was helpful on the morning of this boat trip, however! *

River life, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Floating market, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Banana lady, floating market, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Standing rowing boat, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Big net fishing, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Spot the chicken, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Typical river houses, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Waiting for a bite, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Happy boat man, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Watching the river activity, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Seeing the variety of holy pilgrimage places surrounding Sam Mountain, near Chau Doc. The bizarre Lady Xu temple apparently has a cult following, and was certainly busy with worshippers when we visited, including those offering whole roast pigs. A walk up the mountain included various small shrines, but the best part was our rest in one of the many “hammock cafes” nicely spaced to break the hike up and down. The Tay An pagoda was also very interesting with it's mixture of styles, Hindu elements mingling with Chinese characters and the Buddha statues.

Pilgrim at Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Pondering life? Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam  

Lady Xu dressed in her finery, Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Unusual style of Tay An pagoda, Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Strange statue of a monk complete with real winter woollies, Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Another beanie, Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam

A much needed break, climbing Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Experiencing the fascinating Ong Pagoda in Can Tho. Chinese in heritage, this temple is dedicated to the deity known as Kuan Kung. We loved the English description of this God, and it's promotion of loyalty, justice, cleverness, politeness, reason, intelligence, virtue, confidence, honour, courage and faithfulness- pretty much covers it all!! The atmosphere in the place was unique due to the huge hanging incense coils and shafts of light streaming in from above.

Falling particles, Ong Pagoda, Can Tho, Vietnam

Shafts of light, Ong Pagoda, Can Tho, Vietnam

Huge hanging incense, Ong Pagoda, Can Tho, Vietnam

Old man begging, Ong Pagoda, Can Tho, Vietnam

The street food provided some real high points (and a few unpleasant surprises!). The fresh herbs served with almost everything were delicious. Pork and seafood were the most prevalent meats, and there were certainly many parts of animals we didn't recognize. Baguettes were a favourite of ours. Sometimes we bought our own fillings at the markets, and other times we went for the street version, bahn mi, with pate, roast pork, herbs and other bits and pieces (15,000 dong/AU$0.85). Another saviour was com tam- a plate full of rice, BBQ marinated pork, salad and soup found almost everywhere and filling and tasty (25,000 dong/AU$1.40). Fresh spring rolls, which seem to go by a plethora of different names were a treat, and at 5,000 dong/AU$0.28 each, a cheap and scrumptious way to fill up on the street. Pho is the king of soups in Vietnam, but it's not so common in the Mekong Delta region. We did try bun ca, and Rich received a bonus when the two boiled eggs he thought he had ordered turned out to be nearly ready to hatch out!

The stall holders often made a great fuss of us when we sat down to eat or drink, making sure we were happy. Many cafes had rows of hammocks for customers who wished to relax lying down- such a fantastic idea!

Delish pho in Saigon

Dinner and dessert!

The eggs were more advanced than Rich realized when he ordered them!

Classic Vietnamese street food

Market meal, noodles with pork, prawns and herbs

Com tam - BBQ pork with all the trimmings

Relaxing at a hammock cafe, Sam Mountain, Chau Doc, Vietnam

The best thing about walking around the streets was the number of cafes on practically every corner. We loved being able to stop and rest from the heat in either the tiny plastic chairs or more comfortable lawn chairs. Iced coffee, iced tea, cold sugar cane juice, beer or orange juice were our beverages of choice. No one seemed to be drinking hot drinks at all, and we were amused by the way iced tea (usually a fragrantly flowery variety) was ALWAYS served as a complimentary side drink- even when a coffee was ordered! In the evening the smoothie stalls opened and we loved trying the different sorts- avocado, mango, chikoo, jackfruit, guava were all amazing, but the best by far was soursop. If you get a chance- try it!! Iced coffees and smoothies were about 20,000 d (AU$1.10), sugar cane juice was 5,000 dong (AU$0.28), and iced tea was a bargain at 2,000 dong (AU$0.11), or free.

Hot coffee with hot tea...............

Iced coffee with iced tea!

Smoothies galore

Bus travel in the Mekong Delta was a huge surprise. Far from the chaos we were expecting, all buses from local city ones to long distance ones were extremely organized, cheap, half empty, with prices displayed, and helpful conductors. One company, Futa, even had a door-to-door shuttle service at both ends included in the price of the ticket! The bus system in this area of Vietnam puts almost any other country to shame.

Ben Tre bus station, Vietnam

Typical Delta bus, Vietnam

Breaking up the buses with a cross river ferry, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Hotels were great value, and quality didn't seem to always be reflected in the price. We paid between 120,000 dong and 230,000 dong (AU$6.70-AU$13) and most rooms came with a fridge, two big beds, shampoo and soap (sometimes a used comb or even free condoms!), and all had AC, hot water and cable TV. We didn't find any basic hotels with only fan and no AC, and don't think they exist.

Typical hotel room, Can Tho, Vietnam

Our swankiest room, Sa Dec, Vietnam

A real treat for us!

Traffic was busy in town centres, although nothing like the mayhem of Saigon, which was scary when we first arrived. We always remembered Hanoi being the worst traffic ever, and now we had to get used to it again. The worst bit was keeping an eye out for motorbikes speeding the wrong way down the street! Accidents were common- we saw two a minute apart at one intersection as we sat having a coffee. Motorbikes have taken over bicycles, except for school kids, and electric bikes are becoming far more common.

Communication was a little difficult, but we found people extremely helpful, and unusually inventive with non-verbal instructions when they couldn't speak English. On the occasion people could speak even a word or two of English, it made such a huge difference. We had almost no success with trying to speak the few words we had leant, and found it frustrating to have to resort to writing things down in order to be understood. Particularly disheartening was our inability to find a cargo boat to travel on between Mekong Delta towns- it was something we desperately wanted to experience, but proved disappointingly impossible due to the lack of verbal connection.

Body improvements? Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Local sausages, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Lady and the wall, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

River market, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Caught by surprise, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

So many bridges, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

The Mekong Delta region was a brilliant place for us to begin our Vietnam travels. We felt we had a genuine and authentic experience in places a little off the beaten track. It's been a great introduction and set us up to well head to some more popular parts of the south of the country. 

*Please forgive any spelling mistakes or misinformation- it's our first blog on Vietnam, and we are still learning about this huge and complicated country!! Also, we haven't included any accents on the Vietnamese words, as we don't know the correct use.


.....more Vietnam- the Central Highlands, next.....