January 17, 2017

January 17, 2017

Our goal today is to explore the Mekong Delta.  The Mekong River is the world’s 12th longest river and divides into multiple streams before flowing into the ocean southwest of Saigon.  We drive two hours to the Delta town of Cai Be.

Our first stop is at a temple of the Cao Dai religion.  Cao Dai is a home-grown religion from this region established only in 1926. This monotheistic faith, created as a combination of all world religions, worships the Supreme Being that created the universe. The temple looks like a brightly colored Catholic church. The most striking image on the exterior is a big eye, resembling the one found on the US dollar bill.  The interior is also brightly colored with lots of dragons surrounding the altar.

Afterwards we proceed to the Cai Be dock where we board a river boat.  We cruise a very wide branch of the Mekong full of barge traffic. Enroute we are served a refreshment of tea and fruit. After the snack we disembark and lower ourselves onto a 4-person Sampan, a canoe-like flat-bottomed wooden boat.  An elderly lady oars us a couple miles down a narrow canal, lined with mangroves and tropical fruit trees.

The Mekong Delta is very fertile and is the Rice Bowl of Vietnam capable of yielding three crops yearly.  It is also the breadbasket providing fish, fruit and vegetables. Much of this bounty was exclusively transported and sold on the river.  We transfer back to our main boat and sail by the Cai Be Floating Market, where a flagpole advertises what each vessel is selling.

We disembark at a village market where we learn about traditional crafts of the Delta.  We see how coconut is husked and the meat collected.  We watch the art of puffed rice. Aimee tries her hand at making rice paper. We watch a small assembly line mixing these ingredients together in snacks and candies. We are treated to a nice sample of their production. All very tasty. Walking around the market we are fascinated by some of the stranger Delta goods…. Crocodile Belts, Python purses, and Cobra wine.

We have lunch on an open-air patio outside a house built in 1832.  The food, all fresh from the Delta, came with awesome presentation.  After starters of deep-fried stuffed pumpkin flowers, spring rolls, and lotus seed soup, we had a Mekong delicacy of Elephant Ear fish. Our server took a portion of this very meaty fish, added cucumber and pineapple and wrapped it in rice paper. Our next course was fresh-water prawns. Dessert was JackFruit, something we saw growing along the canal and looks like an over-sized spiky cantaloupe.

Stuffed to the gills we cruised to another dock where we met our bus for the long drive back to Saigon.