After an emotional day the third day of our trip, Rikki and I decided it would be a good idea to relax and soak up some sun and fresh air on the fourth day. Our hostel offered a nice day tour to the Mekong Delta and a few small islands, which sounded absolutely splendid to us. Once again we were up at the butt-crack of dawn, had another amazing homemade breakfast, and were on our way by eight in the morning. The trip started out on a high note when we discovered we would have the same lovely man as our tour whom took us to the tunnels the day before. Many of his stories were the same as the day before so I did some catch up sleeping on the bus in between looking out at the beautiful scenery. We stopped at a pretty rest stop about halfway there for some cà phê đá, or Vietnamese iced coffee made with condensed milk, and to look around a beautiful garden they had there. Then it was back on the bus and off to the boating area we would be starting our trip from.
When we arrived we were told we needed to wait for a few minutes while our guide secured our boat, which gave us all a bit of time to look around the shops and to get some pictures of the boats and the river. The water was the color of milk chocolate, and there was no way to see anything in the water. Boats of all sizes moved across the immense space, somehow not colliding. There was everything from huge barges carrying tins of river-bottom sand for homes to tiny round boats that barley fit one man. Everything was painted bright and cheerful. I loved it immediately and stood there impatiently waiting to get on our boat.
Fifteen minutes later we were boarding an old, beat up tour boat that was manned by a very old gentleman and his slightly round grandson. The chairs were old lawn furniture that had been bolted to the floor and were missing the seats in several instances, but it didn't matter. The sun was shinning and there was fresh air hitting our faces. The old man started up the motor, which I think once belonged to a lawnmower and we started out along the river to the first island.
I can't remember the name of this first island, but I do remember the palm trees, fishery boats, and half submerged trees as we approached it. We pulled up to a sort of dock, but had to frog hop over several lined up boats to get to it. The first stop on this island was the honey bees and fruit trees. We had been told we would be going to a bee farm, but I guess my mental picture of a bee farm and the reality are quite different. We walked to a outdoor seating area and stood around a box that held several of the flat pieces of wood you find inside one of those white manmade bee hives, and they were positively swarming with bees.
Our guide bravely lifted one of these out and told us about the honey bees and then informed us we could approach him and stick our finger into the honeycomb for some fresh honey. This honeycomb was invisible under the layer of buzzing, living bees that covered it even as he held it up to us. Rikki and I both bravely approached and got our bit of honey. This was one of the scariest things I have even done and the fact that I didn't turn and run or even faint still amazes me.
After this taste of honey, our guide led us all to a table covered in small glass cups and served out some bee pollen tea for us. Apparently the bee pollen is very good for pretty much every part of your body. I didn't really think it had much of a taste, but the honey lemon tea he mixed it into was delicious and refreshing. We sat for awhile drinking our tea and looking at the various bee products we could purchase if we wanted, and snacking on the dried fruit and ginger.
After this little break we walked to another outdoor seating area about five minutes away to try some of the locally grown fruit and listen to the local people sing traditional songs. The fruit was mostly pretty tasty, and I even enjoyed the Jack Fruit. As a whole, the six people at our table agreed that the pineapple covered in spicy salt was the absolute worst thing we had ever tasted. We also had more tea, this time green, and talked about where we had all come from.
The singers and musicians came up to our tables a short while later and began to sing. They sang three or four songs that ranged from traditional to modern. One of the singers was an absolutely adorable little girl who smiled and sang her heart out the whole time, and reminded me of some of my littlest students back in Korea, when they aren't driving me nuts. After the performance, they passed around little baskets for us to put tips into, which we all did, and then we headed to the next part of the adventure.
We walked through an orchard, which didn't look any different than the rest of the forest around us. No straight rows and organized planting here. It was haphazard and organic and exactly the way I think orchards should be. Our path lead us to one of the smaller rivers that run through all of the islands in this region. We were led down a slippery stairway and into waiting rowboats. These long crafts were manned by two people, one in front and one in back and moved up and down the river all day in a continuous line. We were given traditional hats and told to keep our hands out of the water. This turned out to be great advice, not only because of the crocodiles our guide mentioned in a jokingly serious way, but also because some points in the river were so crowed, the boats threatened to tip each other over or crawl into our boat. Even with the craziness of the river, and the very touristy feel of it, it was a very fun little trip down the river and back to our big boat. After a slightly terrifying clamor over several lined up boats, we were off on our way to the second island of the day.
The second island was home to a town and a large coconut farm. It was named Unicorn Island. When we first arrived, it looked very similar to the first island, except that most of the trees were large palms. We started out in the coconut candy workshop were they hand crushed, hand cut, and hand wrapped every piece of candy they make and sell. We sampled some rice paper, stared at the snake and scorpion liquor (which or guide said was vodka, but I have never scene orange vodka before), and watched the woman wrapping candy continue wrapping, endlessly.
The next part of the tour involved horse drawn buggies that would transport us to the next town. I wasn't surprised that the horses were a bit thin according to my standards of horse weight, or even that they were quite small and only came up to my head (this was an island after all). I was surprised that they loaded up each cart with five or six adults, plus a driver, and then trotted the ponies quickly over asphalt to the restaurant. it was a beautiful little ride, and the clip clop of the hooves was lovely, but I almost wanted to get out and run alongside the poor little things.
At the restaurant, we were greeted by some small round dogs and several friendly stray cats. We sat over the river in a slit house and were served some chicken breast and veggies. It was nothing spectacular food-wise after all the wonderful things we had had that day, but it filled us up (and the stray momma cat at my feet). After our meal, a beer, and some nice conversation we spread out to find hammocks and some shade to rest in. I got in about a five minute nap before Rikki noticed a large, somewhat worrisome spider above her head that was slowly descending, so we decided to get up and look at the store they had there. We found some coconut sake that was actually inside a coconut, and we each bought one to try out. It was actually really refreshing and I think more places should sell sake this way, especially in summer.
This was the end of our trip to the Mekong Delta. We walked back to some more small boats, which took us too our bigger boat, which returned us to the bus. The trip was amazing and completely what we needed after the tunnels the day before. We arrived back about three ours later and grabbed some banh mi before heading to the hostel for a nap, showers, and some beers and sloth TV to end the night.
