The Mekong Delta

Monday, Sept. 18, 2006--Vinh Long (Cont.)

I had spent 3 hours at the cyber cafe last time by the time I re-typed my entries in my blog after losing them. While there, there is a big storm, but it had passed by the time I left. The evening was still cloudy with some sprinkles, however, so there was no sunset to watch tonight.

I went back to the same restaurant where I had lunch and ate rice with beef and mushrooms for dinner. It was so good. It's obvious that restaurants use fresh ingredients here.

As I left the restaurant, I saw a tourist walking along and talked to him. He was a Frenchman, about 30, and an elementary school teacher. He is bicycling his way through Vietnam over a period of 4 months after having done the same for a month in Cambodia. We talked for almost an hour about my elementary school teaching days, his bum knee from playing volleyball, etc. He was a nice guy.

Since my room had only local TV, I spent the evening planning my route through southern India. I had already decided on places I wanted to visit, but I hadn't planned a routing to connect all of them. I have a good plan, I think, that only has me backtracking twice for very short distances. In general, I will make a big circle.

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006--Vinh Long to Ben Tre

I observed some excitement as I sat on the steps of my hotel waiting for the bus to pick me up this morning. The ladies had set up their spots on the sidewalk for selling fruits and vegetables for the day. Suddenly, there was a buzz of activity. They were quickly bagging up their things and moving them. At first, I just thought maybe they had found a better location and were moving to it. But then a truck pulled up with military men in it. They started confiscating all the fruits, vegetables and the bags they were in and pushing the women away and arguing with them. Apparently, it is illegal to set up sales spots where they were. I felt sorry for the women who had their things confiscated, because these are poor people who will miss the money from the sales and who cannot afford to buy new, large woven bags to carry their items. But the same women had set back up in the same spots within 10 minutes after the truck was gone. I guess it is a regular part of their lives.

To get to Ben Tre, I took a bus, a motorcycle, a ferry, and another bus. It wasn't that far, but it wasn't easy to get there. Then I had trouble finding a hotel. My guidebook had pointed out that there were no budget offerings there. The first place I went wanted twice what I have paid anywhere else for a room, so I declined. The second place I went had a room for about $7, but it was VERY small, and it had no air conditioning and no fan. There was only one small, high window. So I passed on it. The third place had one room. It did not match the quality of where I have been staying, yet it was about 1/4 more in price than I have been paying. I took the room anyway and decided to stay only one night instead of two.

I went to the market for lunch and had a wonderful noodle soup with chicken. The woman and man operating the stall were so excited about having me there. And their food was so delicious! They brought me a plate of limes and peppers for seasoning, and I probably surprised them by eating all the peppers.

I spent the afternoon doing almost the same thing that I had done across the river from Vinh Long. I walked across the rickety old wooden walking crossing the river in Ben Tre and wandered the back trails in that area. People weren't as friendly there, however, as they had been in Vinh Long. A few people smiled and talked to me, but many just ignored me. And there weren't as many children on my route today to stop and visit with. But I walked along some nice canals lined with coconut palm trees. I passed a rice wine factory. And I passed a place where they were fermenting what looked like beans for some purpose. I walked long enough to drink an entire 1.5 liter bottle of water while on the trails. I had to backtrack a couple of times, because there were yard dogs that seems too likely to possibly attack. There were some wonderful butterflies and dragonflies on the trail. My favorite of the former were really huge ones with black and irridescent blue wings. The gragonflies had clear wings with a giant black spot on each.

My watch quit working sometime during the day, so I tried to get it repaired. It didn't seem to be the battery, however. I just bought a new one--a cheap Casio like the old one for about $6.

The hotel was so boring that I decided to get a massage in the evening. That was a mistake, however. Apparently, the main purpose is prostitution. I just wanted a normal massage. The woman who gave it thought that my 25% tip was only about 1/3 of what it should be. I left her with it and nothing more.

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006--Ben Tre to HCMC (Saigon)

It took all morning to get back to Saigon. I sat on an old bus with my suitcase between my seat and the back of the seat in front of me. My feet were up on top of my suitcase. Both my rear and my legs were sore and aching by the time we got to town.

I spent the afternoon napping and relaxing in the room. Then I went back to the sauna at the Center for the Blind for a couple of hours late in the afternoon. After that, I stopped at a vegetarian restaurant near my hotel and had an interesting soup. It was coconut milk and milk as a base and had chunks of banana, sweet potato, carrots, and a starchy root in it. It also had soft croutons that tasted like cubic doughnuts. There were also some round dumplings in it. It was sweet and almost too rich. I ate a loaf of French bread with it.

I'll go back to the hotel now and just relax tonight. I have planned a trip to see a couple of museums tomorrow.