Today’s trip on the Mekong Delta was on of my favorite of the trip. After a two hour bus ride we got on a boat which took us to an island where we ate fruit and listened to traditional Vietnamese music. I got to try a fruit called jackfruit which was cool for me to eat because my name is Jack. We got on the boat again and went to another island where we got to observe how the Vietnamese make chocolate on the Mekong Delta, and hold a snake. I was absolutely terrified while holding the snake and the video is highly entertaining (unfortunately I do not have access to it while writing this blog). The recovery from the snake holding ordeal came when we were given small glasses of honey tea, which were unlike anything I had ever eaten. I want to buy some when I get home (I thought it would be too hard to take home). Following the honey tea we rod horse carriages to a small stream where we would ride canoes. The horse carriage ride was distressing because it did not seem like the horses were treated very well. They had blinders on and just looked downright sad. The canoe ride was very beautiful because we were beneath a canopy of trees. I was scared to hold my phone during it because I thought the ride would be bumpier than it was, and did not want to risk losing my phone. After the canoe ride, we had a delicious lunch and went home.

Today’s experience was not only fun-it was an opportunity to witness the rural development of Vietnam. The separate parts of today’s experience could not have come together without coordination among many different individuals and companies, and a market to sell the experience to. That a tourism market exists shows that there is greater interest in Vietnam from the outside world, or families in Vietnam have more money to travel domestically. Both of which are promising signs of the economy’s growth and continued health. The cooperation required to put on an experience like we had today also shows that even the people in rural Vietnam are starting to have access to technology because the communication required for their cooperation likely would not have been possible without technology.