River Life

Up early, completing packing, breakfast and then a taxi at 7.20am to the airport. Da Lat is situated at 1500m, but the airport is around 45 mins down the road at lower altitude, where it’s flatter. And a very flash airport (white elephant?) it is …

Then a 30 minute flight to Ho Chi Minh (212km) vs a 8 – 9 hour drive. No brainer really, especially as the flight was $50.

Arrived in a 10am and then the next phase of our journey began. Sim, from Innoviet Travel, picked us up at the airport and south we headed, to the Mekong Delta. We’d debated for some time whether we stayed 2 nights down there, in a more upmarket place (for only another $100), or whether we did the more genuine homestay. Genuine won out. But, still nearly $500 for one night, although that did include transport and all activities, as you’ll see. But, it was only for our family, we had our own van, a driver, and a tour guide. Pretty flash!

The trip ended up being way longer than expected. Everything says the Mekong is 2.5 hours for Saigon, but with a private driver, taking no prisoners, it was still around 4 hours, excluding a pretty special lunch stop bedside a canal.

On arrival around 3.30, given that we were running several hours behind schedule, our host for the afternoon, Khang, got straight down to business. First things first, pick some coconuts, and drink them. Yum, just what we needed. And then for the kids, making some whistles and toys from the palm fronds, kids in heaven!

Straight into the bike ride … helmets donned, bikes chosen and we were off along the canal road, and then across the river on the local barge. In this part of the Mekong, like many others I assume, there are main arterial roads, but there is a huge network of concrete (motor) bike paths and dirt ones, connected where necessary with very basic bike and passenger ferries. Very cool.

So in the late afternoon light we got a very interesting insight into local life. People washing in the river, gardens being picked for the next days market, animals being rounded up, kids playing. And then there were the official parts, a look at tofu making, and a closer look at the system for gardening, a Buddhist temple, and the Mekong at sunset. Wow, just amazing, I’ll always remember this ride …

Back to the homestay and then straight into the cooking part of the night our job, to make and cook the spring rolls. Very cool, we’re out in the semi-open air kitchen cooking with the family, their kids on the internet watching YouTube vides and us cooking over a fire. Talk about contrasts …

Delicious dinner out the front of the house with just us and Sim, our guide, listening to the noise of the river. Sublime.

And an early night … basic accommodation, but that was fine, we kind of guessed it, but again, contrasts, last night vs this one … couldn’t be more different.