I think it was a bit ambitious and a little crazy to book a 6-hour boat ride at 6:00 this morning through the waterways of the Mekong River. The ride was fine, but I hadn't really counted on sitting there without doing much in the way of movement. There was really nowhere to move. The boat was a little thing made for 3, maybe 4 people tops. By about half way through, my butt cheeks were crying out for mercy. However...such scenery!
The Mekong River Delta is a massive area that is criss-crossed by a riot of canals, streams and tributaries of the mighty Mekong. People have been living right on the water for millenia and in some ways, I could see that many things hadn't changed in a long time. First however, the main attractions which were a couple of floating markets. Again, this is a practically ancient tradition that has vendors of produce, baked goods, meat and so forth selling their wares on the river out of boats. It's very colorful. My favorite part was the way they display what the particular boat sells. A sample of whatever is for sale is run up a pole at the end of the boat. So, if you are looking for cabbage, just look for a head of the stuff hanging off a pole about 15 feet in the air.
After visiting the markets, the woman navigating it (it seems that all the boats are piloted by women) took the very scenic route back to the port. This is where I got to see how people really live. It was fascinating. Sadly, the river was unbelievably polluted, but that didn't stop people from washing clothes and dishes in it, cleaning fish in it and even bathing in it. My boat came to a halt about a dozen times because the propeller thing kept getting stuck on all kinds of trash that it would entangle, mostly it was plastic bags that folks just chuck off their porches into the water. The woman would whip out a knife, hack it off and keep going. I'm sure I heard her curse a few times, but hard to know for sure.
After I had some lunch and ran into a family from R. S. Margarita. The woman is a flight attendant for A.A. and it turns out that she knew the mother of a couple of brothers (also a flight attendant) that I taught back in the dark ages. Amazing. Anyway, they clued me into the bus that I had to take to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow. So, I dutifully went to arrange it and upon doing so, became painfully aware that in addition to yesterday's misery of getting here, based on what I paid today and what I paid yesterday, I got ripped off big time too. Oh well...
After lunch I came upon a great market by accident. I spent a couple of hours in there taking in all the sights and did something I almost never do which was approach people about taking their picture. Almost all were very welcoming. They loved seeing their images on the display screen of the camera- another reason to go digital, Kevin. And if they had little kids, even better, because they were even more willing to be photographed. Only one woman wanted something in return. At first she wanted my watch (!) and then my hat and finally showed me a wadded up dong note. I offered to delete the photo, but in the end, she and all her buddies and I laughed about it. I don't pay folks for their picture. It was a lot of fun all in all. Got some great images and gave lots of little kids a chance to practice their 'hello' a whole lot. Honestly, I'm a little surprised at the lack of English-speaking here. I'm not complaining, but I am surprised because in Cambodia, it was much more prevelant.
So tomorrow, another 4 hour bus adventure, though this is the good orange bus, according to my RSM pals. We'll see. I sure hope so. With any luck, this will be my last bus ride until China. It's trains and planes the rest of the way in this country. Oh yeahh... a slight problem with my visa here. It turns out that the visa I bought in Cambodia was for 15 days and not 30 days. It expires three days before I'm supposed to leave, so I'll be digging into that mess upon arrival in HCMC tomorrow. Oh and I'm not posting pics lately because the internet cafe scene in this town is pretty meager and they don't have the hardware to make it happen. Hopefully in HCMC, I'll be able to post some images.
Until then...
The Mekong River Delta is a massive area that is criss-crossed by a riot of canals, streams and tributaries of the mighty Mekong. People have been living right on the water for millenia and in some ways, I could see that many things hadn't changed in a long time. First however, the main attractions which were a couple of floating markets. Again, this is a practically ancient tradition that has vendors of produce, baked goods, meat and so forth selling their wares on the river out of boats. It's very colorful. My favorite part was the way they display what the particular boat sells. A sample of whatever is for sale is run up a pole at the end of the boat. So, if you are looking for cabbage, just look for a head of the stuff hanging off a pole about 15 feet in the air.
After visiting the markets, the woman navigating it (it seems that all the boats are piloted by women) took the very scenic route back to the port. This is where I got to see how people really live. It was fascinating. Sadly, the river was unbelievably polluted, but that didn't stop people from washing clothes and dishes in it, cleaning fish in it and even bathing in it. My boat came to a halt about a dozen times because the propeller thing kept getting stuck on all kinds of trash that it would entangle, mostly it was plastic bags that folks just chuck off their porches into the water. The woman would whip out a knife, hack it off and keep going. I'm sure I heard her curse a few times, but hard to know for sure.
After I had some lunch and ran into a family from R. S. Margarita. The woman is a flight attendant for A.A. and it turns out that she knew the mother of a couple of brothers (also a flight attendant) that I taught back in the dark ages. Amazing. Anyway, they clued me into the bus that I had to take to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow. So, I dutifully went to arrange it and upon doing so, became painfully aware that in addition to yesterday's misery of getting here, based on what I paid today and what I paid yesterday, I got ripped off big time too. Oh well...
After lunch I came upon a great market by accident. I spent a couple of hours in there taking in all the sights and did something I almost never do which was approach people about taking their picture. Almost all were very welcoming. They loved seeing their images on the display screen of the camera- another reason to go digital, Kevin. And if they had little kids, even better, because they were even more willing to be photographed. Only one woman wanted something in return. At first she wanted my watch (!) and then my hat and finally showed me a wadded up dong note. I offered to delete the photo, but in the end, she and all her buddies and I laughed about it. I don't pay folks for their picture. It was a lot of fun all in all. Got some great images and gave lots of little kids a chance to practice their 'hello' a whole lot. Honestly, I'm a little surprised at the lack of English-speaking here. I'm not complaining, but I am surprised because in Cambodia, it was much more prevelant.
So tomorrow, another 4 hour bus adventure, though this is the good orange bus, according to my RSM pals. We'll see. I sure hope so. With any luck, this will be my last bus ride until China. It's trains and planes the rest of the way in this country. Oh yeahh... a slight problem with my visa here. It turns out that the visa I bought in Cambodia was for 15 days and not 30 days. It expires three days before I'm supposed to leave, so I'll be digging into that mess upon arrival in HCMC tomorrow. Oh and I'm not posting pics lately because the internet cafe scene in this town is pretty meager and they don't have the hardware to make it happen. Hopefully in HCMC, I'll be able to post some images.
Until then...
YOU SURE DO WINE A LOT!!!
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER, YOUR BLOG IS VERY INTERESTING...I ACTUALLY LOOK FOWARD TO YOUR UPDATES EVERY DAY...YEAH, WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!?! HAHA!