Today we started the day extra early as we traveled down to the Mekong Delta for the day. On the way down there during the long bus ride the whole group was singing karaoke. Everyone on the bus was singing American music like Baby by Justin Bieber or Shape of You by Ed Sheeran. Eventually, the UEF students were trying to culture us in Vietnamese music by singing their favorite songs. After about an hour of us singing at the top of our lungs we finally made to the Mekong Delta.

When we arrived we got to try some freshly made honey tea with plantains. This is also where they had a real snake that you were able to hold and although it was a little nerve wrecking it was a cool experience. After some light shopping we got to try some locally fresh fruit. We got to try dragonfruit, watermelon, and my personal favorite mango. Next, we were on our way to lunch, but to get there we rode on a horse and buggy to the canal where we hopped on a canoe and rowed down the canal. 

Finally, at the restaurant they had the table filled with different types of dishes. I tried dishes like their native fish the elephant’s ear, sticky rice, eel, and hot pot. For the final activity of the day we got to go inside these inflatable balls and float around on the water with them which was exhausting but also pretty fun. To cap the day, on the way back we drank coconut water from actually coconuts and sang another round of karaoke.

I had a lot of fun at the Mekong Delta, but thinking about the town itself it looks like they thrive on the tourism, kind of like a beach town. The place had a ton of vendors selling different crafted goods which they probably don’t sell a lot during the offseason. This means they’d have to rely on another source of income for when the tourism dies down.