Today we had no classes or company visits; we spent the whole day exploring the Mekong River Delta. This was something we were all super excited for, so even though we had to wake up early everyone was ready to go. Our day started with a two-hour long bus ride, but the energy stayed up because we did karaoke for most of the way. When I signed up for this trip, I certainly did not expect to be singing Despacito on a bus at nine in the morning, but it was a fun time.

When we arrived at the delta, we got on our first boat ride of the day to take us to Unicorn Island. The river was beautiful, and the boat ride was short but pleasant. On Unicorn Island, we had honey tea, held a snake, tried fresh made coconut candy, ate fruit grown in the delta, listened to traditional music, rode in a horse-drawn cart, and rode a small boat on the canals. There was so much going on the whole time, but every bit was as amazing as the last. It was really cool to explore the culture of the region in that way, and everything we ate was delicious.

We then got back on the first boat to take us to Pheonix Island for lunch. Lunch was huge and absolutely delicious. A main part of our meal was elephant ear fish, which is a local specialty. Although I am not a huge fan of fish, I have to say it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the beef and pork belly that we had as well. After lunch, we had some time to enjoy the other activities that the island had to offer. There was crocodile feeding, fish feeding, and hammocks to relax in, but I did not do any of those. I spent my time at a part of the canal where you could get in an inflatable plastic ball and float around on the river. Everyone was trying to stand up, but it was almost impossible to balance on the water. I went and was decently successful, if I do say so myself, and then watched others try. It was overall very entertaining, even though the balls quickly became like saunas from the heat.

To cap off the day, we took a boat back out of the delta and did some more karaoke while drinking coconut water straight from the coconut. It was delicious, and the karaoke was fun.

Overall, the day was a really cool experience. I had a great time exploring the delta and hanging out with the UEF students who came with us. It was very interesting to see how much the local economy seemed to depend on tourism. At least where we were, many of the businesses catered specifically toward tourists. All the activities that we did represent someone’s job, with each one being tourism dependent. This must mean that economy of the area is very seasonal, since tourists tend to come mostly during the dry season for the better weather. This effect would only be amplified by the fact that the other major industry is agriculture, which is also of course seasonal. I found the day to be a very interesting case study on a tourism-based area, while also being a fun way of exploring Vietnamese culture.