Mekong Delta

On December 21 I took a day trip to the Mekong Delta with Les Rives. I opted for this because it involved a boat instead of trying to travel by bus to the Mekong. It was also less of a touristy experience and more of an "authentic" experience. 

Houses on Stilts along the river in Saigon

We first headed to a Buddhist temple just outside of Saigon to use the facilities. At the same time they were setting up for a religious wedding so it was interesting seeing them set up.  While on the boat the company provided us with food including sandwiches and fruit and drinks.

We continued on our way and made our first stop at a family's house in the delta.  The owner of the house was a lady of 86 who had never married or otherwise. While there we got to see the more traditional way of life as well as seeing some of the canals.

School child who lived in the house in her school uniform. Her name in Vietnamese means "tiny". 

The proprietess

 After a bit of chitchat the company brought out the star of the show.

They pulled out this Burmese python to give us a fright and also for show. It was 5 meters long. 

 Needless to say there were a variety of reactions and frankly the puppy stole the show. Everybody was more concerned about keeping the puppy away from the python so it wouldn't get eaten. Apparently Ms. Python had eaten a week ago. The company pays for the food for the 4 pythons that the family has.

The same little school girl with her puppy. 

 From there we continued on through the canals and stopped to give some small school children some of the leftover sandwiches. I was very impressed that the company did try to support the local people. It seemed that some of these locals were regulars. Our guide said that these kids come out on a daily basis to take whatever leftovers the boat is willing to give out.

We gave these boys some leftovers

Then it was time for lunch so we headed off to a small village where we got to see a local market in action. After the market we headed to a local orphanage for lunch. I was kind of hoping we would eat with the orphans but we ate by ourselves. Some of these children are orphans and some come from families that are too poor to care for them so they send them away.

Boys playing soccer at the orphanage. Notice what's missing?

After lunch we stopped by a Cao Dai temple in the village. From there we stopped at a local place for some fresh coconuts and then it was back to Saigon by boat! Busy day!  I then had to get the train to Da Nang where I would then get another car to Hoi An.

Cao Dai Temple where we stopped for lunch

Rice field after the harvest where we got fresh coconuts.