Mekong Delta 1

We arrived in Sài Gòn and met the next group of people to join our tour. Next day we visited the Củ Chi tunnels- no photos because they seem too touristy. Then it was onto Mỹ Tho during the afternoon of the 12th.

Mỹ Tho is located close to the Mekong River mouth, or in Vietnamese Sông Cửu Long (Nine Dragons River) and is the main entrepot into the river system. It “was founded in the 1680s by ... refugees fleeing China when the entire country became a colony of the Manchu-led Qing Empire in 1683”. Until sometime in the 18th century the delta region was part of the Khmer Empire until it was annexed by Việt Nam. During the Second East Asian War, due to it’s strategic location, the US built a base there and consequently was subject to fierce fighting.

Once on board the RV La Marguerite we had to cool our heels until port formalities were completed before getting underway, so it was pretty much sunset before we cast off.

First morning of the cruise and we were at Cái Bè, only about 40 km by river from  Mỹ Tho. Tenders transferred us from our boat to the shore, coming in just near Nhà Thờ Cái Bè, the local Roman Catholic church. Built along western lines between 1929 and 1932, complete with grape motifs and wedding cake cement lacework. Its greatest claim to fame is the bell tower- the tallest in the Mekong Delta.

We went to a local rice-paper factory and then onto a puffed rice and coconut caramel candy factory. The rice is popped by pouring it into a wok filled with hot sand over a fire. When the popping finished the sand and rice was separated with a sieve and the rice mixed on a framed bench with a prepared coconut caramel mixture; after cooling it was then cut and packaged.

After returning to the boat we got underway to Thành phố Vĩnh Long, roughly 20 km by water and 10 km as the crow flies. We went ashore in the afternoon and perambulated through some of the town and local market.