A very early start today, as we’re off on a bike ride down through the Mekong Delta. There’s five of us on the ride, plus our guide Thai. We drive down out of Saigon and head down into the delta itself, through to Long An province. It turns out that this is where Thai grew up, so he knows the area like the back of his hand. We’re a bit fearful at first, mostly due to the very high temperatures and humidity, but also due to the local traffic which – while not as terror-inducing as Saigon – is still fairly busy, but we pull off down a small side road before we stop to kit up, and the traffic down here is much better. The bikes are OK – fairly standard low-level Marins – but much better than most bikes available in Vietnam, and perfectly adequate for the slightly rough conditions we’re likely to encounter. We set off and enjoy the beautiful scenery, journeying through local villages and farms. We stop off at a place growing dragon fruit (this part of the delta is known locally as the dragon fields) and marvel at the plants which look a lot like drooping cacti. There are a lot of fruit plants round here growing many different types of fruit – dragon fruit, pomelo, mango, papaya, tamarind, banana, coconut, langtan amongst others. This is also a big rice growing region – most families have a hectare or so of rice paddy which is all harvested manually, so while they’re not rich they generally don’t go hungry! There are also lots and lots of ducks – non-flying ones at that – that are kept for egg production rather than for meat, plus plenty of chickens and the occasional pig and cow! It’s all fascinating stuff, and the ride itself is turning out to be pretty easy despite the heat as the land is flat and the pace is gentle. The people we encounter round here are also amazingly friendly, probably a lot more so than in the city – we stop for a drink of water and the local kids are fascinated by us, playing a game of peek-a-boo and finding it hilarious; pretty much everyone we pass shouts hello, even people on passing mopeds. We encounter a group gathered round a wheeled machine in one village and Thai stops to explain what it is – it produces tubular rice cakes from rice and palm sugar. We try some and it’s delicious, much nicer than the cardboard stuff we get in the UK. It turns out we’re lucky, the bloke only brings the machine round once per week on a Sunday (his payment is half the rice used). We stop for some iced tea at a ‘cafe’ which turns out to be the front of someone’s house! The total ride length was around 30km, and we finally end up in My Tho, a large city down in the southern delta – we mix it up with the local traffic for a couple of kilometres which is fun, it reminds me of my daily commute! The ride ends near a very large – and spectacular – local temple which also has three very large statues of Buddha. Lunch is at a local restaurant, and it really is local – you’d never be able to find it unless you knew about it and we were the only non-locals in there. We were served a feast of dishes, including a lot of slightly weird veggie dishes that were the Vietnamese equivalent of Quorn or similar – vegetarianism is popular in Vietnam so these meat substitutes (shaped like shrimps, squid etc.), made from gluten, tofu etc. are common, but we hadn’t encountered them in Saigon. We take some convincing that it’s actually veggie but he manages in the end!
And we’re still not done. We head down to the port and we’re off on a boat out into the delta. Our captain is a real character – he’s about 80, fought in the war against Cambodia (he shows off his war wounds!), and starts singing songs about Ho Chi Minh and the Khmer as we chug through the port! We’re heading to an island within the delta, but as we make our way there we see once again how busy the delta is, and how important it is to the local people – everyone relies on the water from it. The Mekong is one of the longest rivers in the world, around 4500km, and starts in Tibet then flows through China and many of the countries of southeast Asia (Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam) before emptying into the South China Sea (which we’re only 30km or so from). The Chinese want to dam it close to its source and reduce the flow by around 40% - unsurprisingly there’s fierce opposition to this. We reach the island and swap boats to smaller local paddle boats (sampans) – which Linda’s not happy about – where we continue towards the interior of the island. It feels a long way from other people but we’re not at all – there are lots of buildings here, they’re just hidden behind the palms. We stop near a local bee farm and depart the boat, where we’re treated to an elaborate tea ceremony (local honey, lime juice and hot water – delicious) plus lots of local fruit, all while being entertained by local musicians. I think it’s fair to say that the Vietnamese are not renowned for their music for a good reason! Then we head back to the main boat via donkey and cart (poor thing!), then try coconut candies which are so utterly delicious that everyone in the group buys at least a couple of packets, then we’re back on the boat and speeding back to the port in My Tho, following which we head back to Saigon in the minibus. We get back around 18.30, it’s been a long day but everyone agrees it’s been excellent. We’re pretty tired so we grab a few beers and some food then head back to bed.
We’ve spent three nights in Saigon now but the two full days have so far been spent outside the city and we haven’t really wandered very far from where we’re staying, so Monday brings a day of city exploration. We head out to Ben Thanh market which is only a few blocks away from us – it’s a pretty busy place, not as busy as central market in Phnom Penh but definitely more crowded. We wander round taking in the sights (and sounds and smells) but it’s absolutely baking hot inside so we can’t spend too long in the central area that has very narrow passageways between the stalls. We buy a couple of small things (weight’s an issue given we’re here for 8 more weeks so we have to limit ourselves when souvenir shopping) then head out. We move up past a couple of museums that are closed (Saigon is amusingly old-school – most public places close for lunch!) then head to the large Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame and more importantly the very impressive central post office opposite it. OK, ordinarily post offices aren’t places to detour towards, but this is to post offices what Grand Central in New York is to railway stations. Then we head north-west towards the War Remnants Museum (ready for opening time at 13.30).
Due to the sanitised nature of Cu Chi, we’d were a bit dismissive of Vietnam’s coverage of the Vietnam war, but the War Remnants Museum would change that (it was formerly known as the American War Crimes Museum). There are quite a few military vehicles (tanks, helis, planes etc.) outside but the main draw is inside. The main part of the museum covers the brutality of the war, and does so with no-holds-barred photos and accompanying stories and exhibits to bring everything in context. It’s horrifying, some of the pictures are utterly brutal and shocking. There’s also a large area devoted to the devastation caused by the numerous defoliating agents used by the Americans (most famously Agent Orange) which contained large amounts of dioxins (the most toxic substance mankind has ever created) and the affect this had on the people then and which is still ongoing now with large numbers of miscarriages and birth defects. The photos are very hard viewing. There are also exhibitions upstairs, one of paintings done by Vietnamese artists during the conflict and most notably a photo expo by photo journalists that were killed (or went MIA) during the conflict. Given the journalism aspect (a number of the exhibits were from Time and Life magazines and similar) there are themes based around collections and photographers, but the explanations with each picture provide context and we spend a long time in here – it’s haunting. We consider that there are people brave enough to do this, to go into conflict zones and document the events that happen there, and even though a number of the journalists are American, they report from a neutral point of view. We spend a lot longer than expected in the museum, it’s fascinating, compelling and nauseating at the same time. We’re reminded once again of the atrocities that people seem able to commit against each other and it doesn’t become any more palatable. The Vietnam war represented a seismic shift in the way that wars were fought, both on the ground and in the media, and this is still very true today (despite the west’s attempts to still try and fight ‘conventional’ wars). Most people’s first thoughts when they consider the country Vietnam is the conflict – we both hope this changes as it’s a genuinely interesting and great place that’s changed enormously since it opened up to international tourism in 1995 and we agree that we can’t think of anyone we know that wouldn’t really like the place.
We head back to pack and eat and drink. We’ve only been here a few days but we’re already loving the place and can’t wait to see the other side of Vietnam!
