Asia

[Visited: June 2002]

Not too far from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), it is possible to visit the Mekong Delta. The Mekong is one of the classic rivers in the world, flowing through several countries in Asia before reaching Vietnam in the South. As everywhere, it is a major contributary to local life, for irrigation, as a source of water for the laundry, for washing, and we suspected sometimes also for preparing food. There are several access points to the area. From a growing number of towns it is possible to board a boat to explore the water from the water.
There is probably no better way to explore the Delta than from a boat which brings you right in the middle of the Mekong Delta life. From here, you can see people rowing their boat with recently harvested vegetables and fruits rowing to a nearby market, children play in the water, women washing clothes in the Mekong water, fishermen maintaining their boats.
At some point, we got on the shore of one of the many side rivers that make up the Mekong Delta. From there we were able to go for a short cycling tour, which took us to even smaller rivers, smaller boats, and the abundant green overwhelming us like it overwhelmed the rivers itself. On our way back to the other side of the main river, we got splashed completely by the choppy waters. It surely made us get the "feel" of the river!

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Mekong Delta (Vietnam). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Mekong Delta.
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