On day two of my Southeast Asia trip I visited the Mekong River near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Life on the river is quite different than what the average American like me experiences. To the left is a picture of an open market on the river with merchants selling their goods on floating stores. On the banks of the river are houses and a number of business establishments.
I am pictured below ready to enter our open air river cruise boat. Temperatures were hot and humid but a breeze off the river, my straw chinese hat, and the covered overhang helped keep us cool.
And snacks were readily available during our tour, like this coconut milk I sampled (it was good!)
We visited a family factory. This worker popped rice for us. Eating rice krispies will never be the same after seeing this interesting demonstration:
Another product of the factory was “snake wine”. Some in my travel party were bold enough to try a shot of this potent elixir:
After a delicious lunch at an open air restaurant overlooking the river we drove back to our hotel. Like the night of my arrival, I noticed many vietnam citizens use motorcycles as their primary means of transportation:
Many wore masks like the woman pictured above. Was this to avoid germs? No, our guide said. She explained that in Asian culture white skin is valued, so the masks are used to keep the elements from damaging the riders’ faces. As someone who hasn’t had a decent tan since the 1980’s my light skin tone would fit right in – many vietnamese do not want a tan!
The vietnamese pack as much onto these motor bikes as they can, as the above rider shows. We saw several families all on one bike – our guide said she once saw a motorbike with 6 family members on it!
For dinner we ate at an open air restaurant in a garden setting. The food was plentiful and excellent!
At the end our meal we were greeted by these Vietnamese dancers, welcoming us to their homeland:
I enjoyed this glimpse into Vietnamese culture very much! While life on the river seems primitive by American standards our guide said Vietnam ranks #2 in the happy planet index of all countries measured.
Tomorrow we look at a dark period in the history of Southeast Asia – the Vietnam War of the 60’s and early 70’s.
