Apocalypse Now

There is a bar in HCMC called Apocalypse Now that is described as a throwback to the good old days of sin city Saigon. It comes with a warning that sobriety is not recommended. Then there is a river called the Mekong that is called the River of Nine Dragons here. On that river today early in the morning on a small wooden boat powered by a 5hp motor connected to a 10 foot long shaft with a propeller on it there were times as we wound through narrow channels with overhanging palms and ferns almost hugging the boat that you feel like you're in the movie Apocalypse Now. 

We rolled into Can Tho yesterday afternoon after making the four hour drive by private car from HCMC. Getting out of the congestion and density of HCMC took a while but soon we were in the Mekong Delta. Lush and green and watery, the Delta is the rice belt of the country. The rice was tall and green still, ripening but not yet that golden yellow color which signifies it is ready to be harvested. It was like an ocean of rice and when the wind moved through it looked like waves. An interesting tidbit I picked up from some book I read was that in 1975 Uncle Ho ordered all the farmers in the Delta to work for collectives rather than for themselves. The result was rice production went down and people went hungry in the cities. A few years later he ordered the collectives to be dismantled and let the farmers go back to their old ways. Rice production went up and supply become plentiful again. 

Can Tho is an interesting town of 1.1 million. It seems small compared to HCMC. Life takes place along the river. The river traffic is incessant with boats of every size and shape ferrying people, moving goods, hauling freight, barges laden with heavy machinery, acting as construction platforms, floating gas stations with convenience stores and of course tourist boats. It's like a page from a Richard Scarry book. 

We hired a small two person wooden boat with a green and white stripped bimini to take us for a four hour tour to the floating markets, a noodle factory and up some back alleys. We started out at 6am. The river was teeming with activity. Our driver, a lovely woman who spoke no English but had no trouble communicating with us, steered with one foot while weaving flowers, animals and jewelery out of grass for us. Every ten minutes or so she'd hand us something new. We ended up with quite a collection, which we gave to the kids at the wharf along with the breakfasts the hotel made for us earlier to take with us on the boat. They were quite excited to be having croissants and baguettes for breakfast.

We didn't eat the breakfasts we were made because we had soup at the noodle factory. We are going native and getting used to having Pho for breakfast. There's something to having that savory, spicy taste in the morning and from a waistline standpoint it's better than having buttery croissants and bread every morning. Although I do love a good almond croissant now and then.