Mekong Delta

The Kett family from Minneapolis are in the country. They arrived Sunday after an unplanned layover in Japan, which they claim was beneficial because they got to sleep! Given a day to plan a trip with them to either the Cu Chi Tunnels or the Mekong Delta, I jumped on the chance to see the Delta as that didn't make the cut for any of our weekend itineraries.

I found a great local outfit to show us the place - Sinhbalo Tours. They are a low-key operator out of HCMC. Unfortunately traffic was unusually egregious Monday it took a bit longer than expected to get to Cai Be. What would be an hour drive in the USA takes at least two here, and in our case Monday it was almost three both ways.

Once there we hopped on our bikes for a short ride to the riverfront, through a small cafe (literally - right through the middle of the tables out back to the dock) where we loaded the bikes onto the boat that would take us across the river to a cluster of islands.

If the river were land it would be a town with a name. There is a vast network of everyday life taking place here in the wide latte-colored waters. Myriad boats tied together each offering a resource - fish, fruit, bailing wire, wood... Most seem to be permanent structures with a shuttle boat tied to the back for local transportation.

After unloading the bikes at a town landing we began biking down the "road" - a sidewalk really - through the communities of Dong Phu, Hoa Ninh, An Binh, and Binh Hoa Phuoc. All on separate little islands connected by little concrete bridges. It was a great way to see island life and we received many friendly greetings from the residents.

About the time I was thinking of feeling guilty for dragging the jet-lagged Ketts on a long van ride then a few hours on a bike around an island, we reached our final destination and lunch. The restaurant was set out over the river. They brought us spring rolls, delicious local elephant ear fish which we flaked off and rolled up rice paper with vegetables, beef, pork and rice dishes. All fresh and delicious as is most of the food in this country. We all agreed that what was lacking in the day was a little more time to spend in the island. If you go, I highly recommend at least an overnight trip which would give you two days to see the river, the islands, and the mainland towns.