The Hello Town

To get from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam, we decided to go on a four-day tour that would take us through the Mekong Delta. The first thing the tour taught us was that we were REALLY glad our whole trip wasn’t a tour. Much of the experience was fun, and it was cheaper than it would have been to do it independently, but we couldn’t shake the feeling that we were on a school excursion and/or we were a herd of cattle.

The first day, in true South East Asia fashion, started by us going to the place we were meant to be “picked up from”, waiting for half an hour, being escorted to another place, waiting for another half an hour, getting in a bus that took us to another place, waiting for another half hour, then getting into an airconditioned (yeah right) bus that finally took us out of Phnom Penh to a town on the Mekong, where we got on a boat that took us to the border.

We had heard from a couple of people that the Vietnamese can be really pushy and aggressive when trying to sell you something and our first experience lived up to this. At the border, while our passports were being processed, our guide told us to follow a woman who would take us to a place where we could buy lunch. Next to the place we were directed to was another restaurant, whose owners were calling out to the group as we went past. The two of us decided we’d eat there to share the business around since we were part of a big group. As we made towards them, the lady who had been guiding the group to her restaurant approached us angrily saying we couldn’t eat there. When we asked why, she said that when our guide came back with our passports she wouldn’t be able to find us if we weren’t in the correct restaurant. When we pointed out that we would be within sight and able to see when our guide returned, she contined to get more angry and called for back-up from within her restaurant. After several minutes Niels and I walked off to the place next door.

Our second observation on Vietnam was much more pleasant. There were heaps of children around the restaurants and they were all playing and acting like children, which didn’t happen in Cambodia.

After our guide returned with the passports (and found us without any confusion) we got in another boat to continue down into the Mekong Delta towards Chau Doc, where we were to spend the night. This trip was facinating. The delta is one of the biggest food producing areas in Vietnam and the two main industries and fish and rice. The river banks were packed with narrow shack-like houses built on stilts, behind them were rice paddys and the river itself was busy with boats and fish farms of all shapes and sizes. It was really interesting for us to see this busy, chaotic stretch of the Mekong after having experienced the peaceful, sparcly populated stetches in Laos and Cambodia. We tried not to think about all the garbage and waste we’d seen enter the river all along its length.

The guesthouse we stayed at was in a town a short way from Chau Doc, at the foot of the Sam Mountain. The mountain is the only rise on miles of flat river plains and every evening it is teeming with locals – the majority are walking up it for their evening exercise, while others, dressed up in their finery are on family or romantic outings to watch the sunset from the summit. We didn’t make it to the top cause Niels’ genuine Cambodian Birkenstock sandles were giving him shocking blisters, but we saw some great views of the surounding countryside. One of the most facinating parts of the walk was the genuine friendliness of the people. Our travels so far, especially in Cambodia, had taught us that when locals say “hello” to us, they’re generally trying to sell us something. Not here. Everyone really just meant “hello”.

After a change of shoes, we headed into the town for dinner, armed with some useful Vietnamese phrases our lovely guide, Sun, had taught us, namely, “thankyou” “hello” and “can I please have some rice porrige” (the same as hello, but with an upward inflection). The little town we were staying in is home to a couple of spectacular temples and, as it was a Saturday, the town was packed with people who had made their weekly pilgrimage to worship. Consequently, the town was packed with people and had a real carnival atmosphere. The sky at dusk turned brilliant colours and that, with the soaring, pastle towers of the temple, made for a sureal atmosphere. We didn’t see a single other Westerner and everyone kept saying “hello”, which, as we found out when we tried to order dinner, was the only word of English they knew.

The next morning we headed into Chau Doc to meet up with our guide and a group from Saigon who were doing the tour in the opposite direction. In this crazy world that is backpacking, it’s amazing who you keep running into and in the Saigon group we were lucky enough to run into Chris and Alex, two guys we travelled with for about a week in Laos. Consequently, if you ask Niels anything about what we saw on the tour that morning, you’ll probably draw a blank cause he spent the whole time catching up with them (it was REALLY great to see them). But I did pay a bit of attention to the tour.

The highlight was a visit to a fish farm. There are heaps of these floating on the river, with the family living on top and a cage full of fish below. The farm is a great example of how the industries in the delta are linked together in a way that maximises resources and minimises waste. The fish are fed a mixture of rice husks, dead fish and salt, all of which is cooked on a fire that burns more rice husks. The ash from the fires is bought by the farmers for fertiliser.

The farms provided an opportunity for Sun to demonstrate her sense of humour:
Sun: “Why do you think there are so many fish farms built in the river here?”
Us: Blank expressions.
Sun: “Because they can’t build them on land.”

The third day’s excursions consisted of visits to some floating markets and a rice vermacilli making factory. The floating markets are spots on the river where people converge in their boats every morning to buy and sell their goods (see second and third pics). There were boats brimming with fruit and vegies of all kinds, each one advertising its wares by hanging an example of their product, for example a pineapple or an onion, off a tall pole. There were also small boats floating around selling coffee and softdrinks.

After the tour we were dropped off in a town called My Tho. My Tho is the closest delta town to Saigon and when we had asked a guy on our tour, who had been there the day before, what it was like, he had said “touristy”, so when we set off to explore in the late afternoon, it was more with a feeling of obligation that any real enthusiasm. But we loved My Tho, it had canals lined with shacks, a chaotic, atmoshpherioc little market place and little side streets with small restaurants. At night, the riverside area was packed with locals - it was so nice to see the people just out, enjoying the evening. The whole time we only saw two other Westerners. The next day we joined the tour again and quickly saw why the guy had labled the town as “touristy”. The tour took us to the market we had been to the night before, but this time, instead of teeming with locals, it was filled with crowds of day-trippers from Saigon. Next we headed for a tour of some of the delta islands, where we visited a coconut candy factory, played with a large python, stuck our hands in bee swarms to get honey, drank honey-flavoured and coconut-flavoured rice wine, saw a local traditional music performance and paddled through narrow palm and fern lined canals (see last pic). Then, off to Saigon!