Zelma’s Trip

The Mekong Delta is, as it sounds, the large Delta area of the Mekong to the far South of Vietnam.  I went on a boat trip into the Delta which was brilliant.  We started on a boat for about fifteen people and went across a large section of water before going into the smaller waterways.  We stopped at a place where they processed coconuts and made various sweets etc.  They were really nice but slightly sickly for my liking.  There was also a very dubious spirirt which, to be honest, just tasted like pure alcohol and not a lot else.  After the tasting session we went on a bike ride around some of the villages.  The paths were bumpy and narrow and I, somewhat foolishly, made  a joke about riding into the river.  Although I wasn’t the casualty a Scottish guy fell off his bike and then was really ill.  I think it was the shock of the fall combined with the heat but he could not carry on.  Luckily we were next to a local’s house and they kindly let him go and sit in the shade of their living room.  One of his friends waited with him and we cycled back.  He was then picked up on the back of a motorbike.  As with all things Vietnamese, the actual time the bike ride took seemed to be somewhat different to the time we were told.  When asked whether we wanted to go a 30 minute ride was quoted but it actually turned out to be at least an hour.  Other than the aforementioned casualty (he was fine by the way) the bike ride proved a great way to see the local villages and villagers.  There were some odd contradictions along the way like houses which looked like dishevelled shacks blaring crazy music out.  There was also something which was quite upsetting involving animals but I won’t elaborate as I think it might upset some people who may read this.

After the bike ride we had lunch at a small restaurant.  The food was awesome and I was, again, embarrassed at my inability to use chopsticks.  Following lunch we got back in the boat and went to another part of the delta.  A couple of people held a python while others took photos and then we were given fresh local fruits and treated to local music.  When I say treated, the combination of out of tune singing and bizarre screeching instruments actually sounded more like a cat being strangeld slowly to me but other people seemed to enjoy it.  When one of the crowd was given the stringed instrument to play the locals  and musicians laughed hysterically which I found slightly confusing as, to me, there was no audible difference between this and the first performance.

 After having our my eardrums punished we were taken on a boat ride down a small channel.  It was a large canoe like boat with a woman propelling us forwards with an oar at the front and a man at the back.  We seemed to be going faster than everyone else and kept overtaking peoplel.  When we went past one boat a German lady said, “Ahhh, Schumacher”, I replied, “No Hamilton” and she completely blanked me.  Hmmmm!

 The small boat took us back to out boat and we made out way back to the mainland.  On the way back in the bus we had a blow out which was a bit of a pain but it was okay in the end.