Exploring the Mekong Delta

We started our day with a stop at the biggest former Viet Cong base in the Mekong area that has been converted into a large park that is visited by Vietnamese from neighbouring cities and the north as well. We were surprised that we were one of the very few foreign groups visiting that we saw. 

Our first stop along the trail was a huge Lotus field. It was quite beautiful and had a bamboo "monkey bridge" down the entire length so it felt like we were walking right through them. It was so amazing to be able to see the lotus flowers in various stages of growth from the tiny yellow seed pods to the fully grown green ones with delicious seeds inside.

Our guide, Bao, brought a green one for us to try.

We continued into the forest, where we saw more Viet Cong tunnels and hidden underground officers and bunkers. After Cu Chi, these were much less extensive but no less impactful when trying to imagine the crazy things these forests witnessed.

There was a swampy area that had wrapped stakes connected by ropes to block it off as this type of terrain was where American helicopters would land so they were heavily mined and are apparently still off limits as a precaution.

 

We then hopped in a small boat for a short paddle through the skinny canals in the forest, which was pleasant but not so noteworthy. The most exciting thing we saw were local Vietnamese teens having a real tough time navigating the canals with their paddles. In the best English they could muster we heard them sitting in the distance "we are very scared!". I don't think it was necessarily true but I appreciated the show of solidarity with the foreigners.

We headed back to the van to drive into Can Tho to a restaurant for lunch. Ethan tried the frog legs, which were apparently a bit too chewy, and the rest of us got a variety of decent Vietnamese fare including people noodle soups, caramelised fish and pork and fish soup.

After lunch we drove down to the ferry docks where we got in a small boat (not the ferry) and had a short ride to the island of Cồn Sơn. After a short walk we found ourselves in a longan orchard! This style longan fruit that grows locally in Vietnam is bigger than those we see imported to Asian markets in Canada but their seeds are also bigger. They explained that's why Vietnam doesn't export much of them because they have less "meat". However, what they lack in substantiality, they more than make up for in flavor and sweetness!

They were amazing! They picked a massive bowl for us to snack on and also brought us a clear blue tea. Yes, blue! It was butterfly pea tea which gives it an unusual but mystically beautiful blue color. What was also a neat trick is that if you squeeze a few drops of kumquat juice in, it turns a rich purple (and is also delicious)! Across a little canal we could see a rambutan tree whose colors looked amazing!

Fun fact: we walked by a bush that had plastic bags and Styrofoam nets tied to its branches. When I asked, Bao said that the farmers sometimes put that on at the early first stage before they turn into the fruit to protect them. They were guavas! When we get guavas they're often in the foam nets... I couldn't have imagined they grew into them from the start and are picked and boxed already like that!

We walked down a trail toward the other end of the island, passing simple homes, most of which had a little basket or two of different fruits they were selling. We stopped in at one restaurant where they had a garden in front with a decorative pool with a lotus plant relative that I initially thought was a daycare or something with a bunch of turtle wading pools... These "lilly pads" were HUGE and even had built in walls around them! They could also carry a decent amount of weight - they put a metal tray down on one and the kids took turns standing on it. It was surreal. Apparently all these turtle pools were all leaves of the same plant too. Amazing. 

We kept on down the trail and came to another place that made popped treats. We sat down and shared a peanut popped rice square and a jackfruit leaf rice dessert.

It was a jackfruit leaf with sticky glutinous rice dessert spread thinly on it and rolled up. You unroll the leaf, peel off the thin rice sheet, dip that in sweetened salty coconut sauce and eat it. That's all I have to say about that.

After the desert we had the chance to try making a typical Cambodian waffle, which was a style brought over from the French back in the day. They're super thin and it was fun to make in the waffle press and try to roll it up before it hardens.

The last activity at this place was mind and ear blowing. They took a scoop of rice and added it to an old repurposed fire extinguisher. We then roasted it over a fire, taking turns turning it until it was ready. The fire extinguisher had a "trigger" on it, and they positioned the hot metal container in front of a long tube net before asking one of us to smack the trigger with a metal stick. It took two tries but the noise when it happened was deafening!

The explosion of popped rice into the net was also amazing to see. We captured it in slow motion and it was a fun experiment. We got a massive bag of popped rice to take with us too. The gift that keeps on giving.  

Onto the fish farm... The subject of the next post!