The mighty Mekong

Geography was one of my favorite subjects at school when I was a child. I have always been fascinated by faraway, exotic places like Mekong. Even the name "Mekong" appears extraordinary, a place so different to my reality, a jungle through witch the river slowly flows. Of course, when I was a child I never actually believed I would some day sit on a river boat, cruising on the Mekong river on may way to eat lunch on one of the islands on the river. Life is full of surprises.

Some Mekong facts before I continue with the description of my day. First thing first, the Mekong has its source somewhere deep in Tibet, no one has actually been able to locate the exact place where the river begins, thus making it a tad difficult to measure the length of the river accurately. The river then flows through China, continues its journey through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and finally meeting the South China Sea. Depending on the source, Mekong is the 10th - 12th largest river in the world. For the ones expecting to see clear, blue water Mekong could be a bit of a disappointment, since the water is muddy sort of brown. On its way to the sea, the river gathers sediments that change the color. On the way other kind of lose things like plastic bottles, empty coconuts and an occasional flip flop also seem to have been captured by the river.

The Mighty Mekong

I went on the trip on Thursday. After finishing my breakfast I waited, waited and waited for the tour guide to come and collect us, all the time thinking of a possible past transgression that causes the poor Finn to constantly come into contact with people who are chronically late. I decided not to be bothered by waiting and enjoy the day.

The tour guide was a talkative guy whose biggest cause of unhappiness apparently was his unmarried status at the age of thirty something. He joked that when we stop at Vinh Trang Pagoda, we can all ask Buddha to give us a boyfriend or a girlfriend. And if it so happens that somebody already has the significant other, why not ask for a second one. After all, it's not stupid to ask. I visited Buddha but we talked about finance.

Buddha will listen to you here

Vinh Trang Pagoda is famous in the area

After visiting the pagoda we hopped back into the minibus and headed to the city of My Tho, where we took the boat to one island on the river. The island was best known for coconut candy, and we saw the traditional way of making the candy. Let me mention just here before I forget, that the difference between the city and the countryside in Vietnam is relatively huge. Ho Chi Minh is like any other southern city, crowded to the point of breaking, chaotic traffic, a city full of life. The countryside is more tranquil, poorer. The pace of life is slower. Alongside the road you'll see people taking a nap in a hammock or a sunbed, drinking tea and chatting with each other. On the other hand even Saigon has a group of elderly people in every possible corner and their main purpose seem to be amusing each other.

A shopping street next to the pagoda

The island we visited had at least one city, to which we went on a horse carriage. A bit outside of the city we gathered in an enormous open-air restaurant to each lunch. The local architecture is more than interesting. It hardly ever gets cold here in south, so the houses are not needed to give warmth, they just offer shelter. Some of them, especially shops, eateries etc, don't necessarily have walls, at least not four walls. One restaurant had arranged a sink for the customer to wash their hands, and the sink was happily leaning on a tree. "Bathroom only needs a couple of ceramic tiles to be finished, huh?"

After lunch I fell into a slight coma in a hammock. Eating too much seems have become a habit here, oh my my. Some people went to ride a bike on the island but I only made it as far as the crocodile farm about 10 meters away from my hammock. Even the crocodiles were napping in the afternoon heat.

Don't expect them to do more than open their little mouths in a threatening manner

After the nap it was time to go back to the dock and board the river boat, towards new adventures. We visited another island to drink some honey tea. At the tea house it was possible to get photographed with a python, so I had the snake on my shoulders. Tough luck, the photographer held my phone so that the flip cover fell to cover the camera, so there's no photo and no one will ever believe that I had the snake in my hands.

Well, at least I can upload a photo of the honey bees. 

After enjoying tea we went rowing on the smaller canals of Mekong. The boats were canoe-like things and the journey went fast, my only task being trying to remain silent and not to move too much, Er arrived at a local market place, where we were offered more tea and fresh fruits. While eating and drinking once again we listened to traditional music. And then it was time to return to Saigon. I enjoyed the day a lot but still I was happy to be back to the city, inside four concrete walls. I am a city person. One day in the countryside is enough.

PS, Did you know that crocodiles invented the sushi train a long time ago? When you see the boats on Mekong, you'll notice that some of them have eyes painted on them. The tour guide told us that in the past the river was dangerous. The boats were relatively small and under the waves there were plenty of crocodiles just waiting to take a bite, so in order to scare away the hungry predators people started to paint scary-looking eyes on their boats. So, from the crocodiles' point of view, you'll see an endless line of small boats flowing by, each of them containing a different kind of snack. Doesn't it remind you of a sushi train?

The local market 

Riverside villa with a place for a boat