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Today we began a massive two-day excursion out of Ho Chi Minh City into the Vietnamese countryside. The good news is our van picked us up from our hotel. The bad news is our van picked us up at 6:15 am. This was necessary because it would take several hours to drive to our destination: The Mekong Delta.
Our van was comfortable and air-conditioned. There were seven guests plus driver and guide in a 16-person van. Our guide was Tom, a friendly 20-something man who says he learned English only two years ago from watching movies and YouTube. (We had no idea if he was kidding, but his English was excellent.) Our driver’s Vietnamese name means “fast,” and he was terrific at weaving through traffic.
Along the way, we made a stop for coffee (and toilet) and a stop at a Vietnamese temple. Cao Đài is a Vietnamese religion that incorporates aspects of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Islam and Roman Catholicism. Founded in 1926, the religion currently has about 2.5 million followers.
We finally arrived at the Mekong Delta at mid-morning, where we left our van and boarded a boat to motor us around the region. We visited numerous stops around the area, including manufacturers of coconut candy, popped rice, crafts, fruit and snake wine.
A highlight of the day was boarding small sampan boats to travel up narrow rivers. In populated areas, women row these boats with double oars. In other sections, they use little outboard motors.
We ended our day at Bamboo Eco Village. This is a beautiful clearing in the middle of the jungle, where a couple built a lodge right before COVID shut them down. Fortunately their business has survived. Here we had dinner and spent the night in cozy, air-conditioned private bungalows. The atmosphere and experience greatly reminded us of our time in Africa years ago.
Tomorrow our Vietnamese adventure continues, with a meeting time of 7:00 am.