Mekong Delta - Part One - written by Anne

Wow, what a welcome into the essence of the Mekong Delta, a river sustaining millions for their livelihoods. There is a natural rawness and grittiness to the Mekong, however once you get off the main trunk lines and down the smaller delta’s you experience the serenity and beauty of it all getting up close and personal.

 

 

Lun from Mango Cruises has shown us a part of the Mekong Delta that will resonant with us forever in our memories. Just out of Ben Tre we were welcomed onto a stylish junk boat with loungers and arm chairs. Lun prepared exotic fruit of dragonfruit, rambutans, pineapple, guava and sweet mini bananas swallowed down with coconut milk served straight out of the coconut shell. We continued to drift down the lifeblood of the Delta watching people making their living.

Our first stop was at a coconut factory (see details of this visit in a separate blog), we then visited a local brick making factory (again details in a separate blog), then we got on our old fashioned styled bicycle and went along little dirt and concrete tracks passing local houses and villages surrounded by coconut trees and other local vegetation, neighbourhood dogs were running around lazily. We then came and visited a local Mekong rice noodle making factory (see separate blog) before walking our bikes along a narrow path to engage in a tea ceremony. The tea consisted of green tea and honey along with coconut lollies.

We then boarded a sampan along a very narrow peaceful delta paddled by two local women. Only three metres wide the canal was lined by lush vegetation and more palm trees. We then came to the intersection with a larger Delta and met up with our original junk boat. We motored along until we eventually docking at the Mango Rover Homestay.

The kids eyes lit up as they realised this was our residence for the next 24 hours. We were greeted by beautifully dressed hostesses bringing out our five course lunch of tiger prawns in coconut milk, local fish in lemongrass and tamarind sauce, pork stir-fry with local rice noodles and chicken curry with potato and carrot with steamed rice. This was finished off with fresh fruit. It was then time to relax and enjoy the tropical swimming pool.

Before dinner I was relaxing with a mojito overlooking the Mekong Delta watching the sunset as local life passed before us. We now have been invited to have a personalised cooking demonstration by Bun and his 19 year old chef apprentice, our menu includes sweet & sour chicken soup, banana flower salad with chicken and lime dressing, spring rolls that we wrapped up together, local fish in coconut caramel sauce followed by deep fried banana and Chinese green tea. It was delicious and it was all cooked next to our table whilst our host explained all the ingredients and cooking methods.

What a full day, now we are all pretty knackered!!!