Get on the Boat, The Banna Boat

The Mekong Delta is a pleasant change from the War Remnants museum and Cu Chi Tunnels with beautiful scenery and welcoming smiles. The delta is home to about half of Vietnam’s rice production surpassing both Japan and Korea combined. This is due to countless rivers and tributaries providing water throughout the region allowing them to grow rice year round.

We took a three day tour of the delta in route to Cambodia. It seemed more interesting to cross the border by boat than on yet another bus. Although there are several major cities throughout the region, a fare number of locals still live in villages only accessible via the river system. We spent an afternoon on a longboat visiting several villages where they demonstrated their skills at making rice paper, honey, and various candies.

Being a region based around the water we got an opportunity to visit two floating markets, Cai Be and Cai Rai. Both markets were fairly similar with people selling their goods as they paddled between different customers. There were lovely bunches of coconuts and even a banana boat. Like a billboard back home, each boat would suspend their specific produce from a bamboo stick. It was interesting to note that the majority of vendors and customers were female. Our guide explained that women are far superior at bargaining because men are too timid to bargain with a female whereas two women will barter to the end.

Our trip through the Mekong required several ferry trips with the bus and hundreds of mopeds. Once the large vehicles were loaded, flood gates were open to the mopeds. People fought for their space on the boat for fear that the next ferry in 5 minutes wouldn’t arrive soon enough.

One night of our trip was spent in Can Tho, the largest city in the delta with over 1 million people, where we got our chance to try frog and another helping of snake. The frog was quite pleasant tasting like a mini chicken leg, but I guess all things fried taste similar. Although Jenny couldn't get the thought of Michigan J. Frog out of her head. After dinner we walked around the waterfront where everyone was smiling and waving, which caught us off guard as the majority of people from the rest of Vietnam haven’t been as warm. We spent the rest of the evening kicking back a several beers with some friends.

The Sardine Can

With a couple options to get us to Laos we choose the two day slow boat. Laos Airways is not recommended by the US State Department and the fast boats would get us there in a day although neither have a great safety record. It took three days to travel from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang on several buses and boats through some magnificent scenery.

Our first night was spent in the quaint border town of Chiang Khong in Thailand. Crossing into Laos was simple; a quick departure stamp from Thailand, a two minute boat ride, and a few forms for a visa-on-arrival. After a short tuk-tuk ride to the pier we purchased our tickets at the official ticket counter for 200k Kip ($23 per person) and grabbed a bunch of mini bananas before boarding the slow boat.

The boat was simple with bench seats in the front and a bamboo mat in the back. We arrived right before the boat was scheduled to depart so we were stuck in the engine room. Although a bit noisy and grimy, we were able to stretch our legs and peer through the window at the stony karsts and overgrown jungle as we cruised down the Mekong. Our first day of travel ended in the small village of Pakbeng. There wasn’t much to do in Pakbeng except sleep and eat. After climbing the hill in darkness we found a room about the size of our closet that contained a bed and a mosquito net. The entire town is powered by generators, so after dinner it was lights out at 10pm.

We arrived at the pier an hour before our departure to ensure we received a seat with a view for our 10 hour leg to Luang Prabang. From our nice breezy window we watched locals fish and farm along the hillside and children splash around in the river. The group of 150 some odd people from the day before were divided among two separate boats. This gave everyone plenty of room and gave us nice padded bench seat from a mini-van. After our three day journey we’ve finally reached Luang Prabang.