Vietnam part II. "a ride through the mekong delta"

the mekong delta, so lush a region of asia. so tropical and green, with water everywhere. the mekong is the hub of trade for vietnam, cambodia, and laos, with boats arriving from various towns and rural areas, ready to sell off their goods to feed those in the cities far away. 

we woke up early after a few days in saigon and packed what little things we had brought with us into our small bags and met up with these three older vietnamese men with motorbikes who we had hired to be our personal guides for two days. we hopped on the back of their bikes and trusted them to safely transport us around. what a ride it was! on the back of a bike cruising out of crazy saigon-the sights were priceless. exotic buildings lined the streets, people busy about their day, every little thing seemed so different! four people on one scooter, with their dog! a man transporting what appears to be thousands of cups on a small scooter... what a plethora of sights to see as we drove deeper into the lush countryside. 

a few hours on the back of a motorbike and we arrived at the river and hired a small boat with just us three, our personal guides and the boat man. we trolled along in the vast mekong river, about four kilometers wide! the river is brown from sand and probably pollution. there are reeds and plants growing in the water and lots of boats. small and large, bright color, plain gray, some are even homes. humble homes, or rather floating shacks. cruising along the river was spectacular, being on the water a treat. occasionally we veered off to a small channel with palm trees growing straight up from the water, these channels led us to a few different island farms and sometimes we stopped. 

we tried honey fresh from a honey comb, i stuck my finger into the comb, through a thousand peaceful busy bees and out with the warm honey. so good. we drank cobra wine, with blood of a cobra, and this guy had a massive python that we could handle if we dared. we watched the locals making coconut candy in their thatched roof home. all of this time our personal guides were along with us, treating us like royalty, holding our bags and lighting our cigarettes, we shared meals with them and tried to learn a little about them through their minimal english. 

we stopped at one farm that served everything up to us straight from the garden and the water in a fancy meal of fish and giant prawns. it was beautiful in presentation, tasty, and filling. 

after a day on the water we headed back for the motorbikes, headed for the town of Cai Be, the hometown of one of our personal guides. we got caught in a torrential downpour on this leg of the journey. thankful that we'd purchased heavy duty ponchos back in saigon we pushed on through the pelting rain drops and meter high waves from passing vehicles. we wanted to get into town and find a place to stay before it got too late for we were eager for an early morning at the sunrise floating market. the town in which we stayed was tiny. we were likely the only foreigners there and that felt rather special. we were thankful for our guides, because we never could have made it to this place without them. we took it easy that evening at an outdoor cafe/restauraunt in that small, rural village town. the guys played billiards with our guides as i sat and wrote, enjoying my 75 cent beers and enjoying beautiful vietnamese music being played over invisible speakers. we woke at the break of dawn to the sound of music being played for the whole town, it was so incredible, a good way to greet the day, and we headed again by motorbike to the rivers' edge where one of our guides (the one from there) negotiated a super cheap boat for us. we cruised around the floating market watching vendors at work with boatloads of sweet potatoes, watermelons, pineapple, fish, or other local goods. 

it was sobering and rewarding to see how simply other people live, how hard they must work to obtain what little they have, and yet they seem like a generally happy people, the vietnamese. they are kind to us, who are complete strangers. we enjoyed our early morning river journey and a few meals and some vietnamese coffee, so dark and sweet, before heading back to saigon for more urban adventures!