Tropical heat and an abundance of water. The river of the five dragons, the Mekong Delta is home to many a farmer and the ground springs up life in every shade of green.
The islands within the river have many communities, each working together for the greater group. This is where you will find all the weird and wonderful tropical fruits and get to taste a buffet of these juicy treats.
We only have one day to explore this waterwork with it’s network of islands. The islands we visit are named after three of the legendary Vietnamese animals namely Phoenix, Unicorn and Turtle. The 4th being the dragon, in this case, I’m assuming it is represented by the river.
The locals seem to have learned how to balance tourism and their farming. Quite clever, they bring the market to themselves. You can see that the people use their rowing boats to ship tourists down canals but also for everyday work. It is a fine balance but I don’t feel like these islands are just showcases, this is a functioning farmland.
We taste the fruits of their labour – jackfruit, papaya, bananas, pineapple and dragonfruit. On another island they have beehives with delicious honey from the flower of some exotic fruit whose name is can’t remember. The locals make tea for us to taste mixed with the honey and pollen which apparently helps reduce blood pressure. On the last island a family makes delicious candy from coconuts, no sugar but bursting with added flavours such as cacao, coffee and ginger.
Lunch on a lush island and a nap under the trees swinging on a hammock is how we ended this day before getting back on our boat across the mighty Mekong.
The bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh City is filled with scenes of crazy traffic and overloaded motorbikes, the occasional rice paddy and cafés along the sides of the road with hammocks.
Lovely area of the world