Our weekend trip to the Mekong Delta was incredibly impactful and meaningful to me. The trip kicked off with a beautiful 3 and a half hour bus trip through the outer skirts of Saigon and into the rural farmland and rice paddies of the Delta. Time moves slow in the Mekong, but life here moves even slower. There is no rush that you may feel in a big city. Everything seems to last longer: you get more time to enjoy meals with friends, you get to talk to street vendors longer to strike deals, and you get to stare out into Vietnam’s luscious green fertile farms that span for miles. Everything seems to be stuck in time. Houses are built with run-down wooden frames, sheet metal roofs, and other salvaged materials patching holes where needed. The buildings have life and character. It’s part of the culture. Neighbors are few and far between. If you’re lucky, you may have a small restaurant or a half demolished building to hang out in during your very limited free time. Life here is different from in Ho Chi Minh.
As we tore across miles and miles of paddies, my mind started to wander. I started thinking about the generations of farmers who lived on this land, and the soldiers who were laid to rest on it. The song I was listening to on Spotify just ended, and a new one began. As the melodic opening riff of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man started ringing, I immediately got goosebumps. I have never experienced anything in my life like I did in those six minutes of the song. It is the perfect description of how life is in the Mekong Delta. They are surviving the only way they know how. It may not be a pretty or extravagant life, but it’s simple and fulfilling. I did not know yet, but this song would be played many more times throughout the weekend. The farmers and merchants of the Delta are a huge part of the economy, but do not live in giant penthouses or skyscrapers similar to what you would find in Ho Chi Minh City.
We arrived at our accommodation just in time for lunch. The food was nothing to write home about, but the environment was serene. It sat in the middle of a pond with catfish and plants, and everyone took turns feeding the scraps of our lunch to the fish. As previously mentioned, the day went by much slower than the others. The two hours we spent in the pool before going off to play team building games felt much longer and more exhausting than I was anticipating. The games were held in a tourist attraction that reminded me heavily of Jurassic Park. We were told to put everything away and change into what looked like traditional Vietnamese farming attire. We then had to endure the most disgusting, yet sort of fun gauntlet of activities humankind has created.
The games took place in an arena similar to Wipeout or American Ninja Warrior with murky brown river water than you could not see through. The ground was squishy and had a plastic mat underneath to protect us from rocks, although the protective layer had some holes. The water smelt terrible. The first time I jumped in when losing in rock, paper, scissors, I almost gagged. We also played games on a giant swinging bridge which definitely violated some sort of health and safety code. Later, we were instructed to get into a muddy pit to catch and pick up catfish with a trap and our hands. It looked like there were hundreds of crocodiles in their crocodile enclosure, and each of them had their mouth open while sleeping.
The next day, which is today, I woke up bright and early at 5:00 AM from a rooster as my alarm and Simple Man and that experience stuck in my mind. We immediately got on a boat on the Mekong River to travel to the floating markets. Tuan, our guide, told us that there used to be more floating markets, but now it has been reduced to around three in total. This is in part due to newer forms of transportation and ways of purchasing goods. The very same melodic riff that started playing when watching the farmers in the rice fields started as we boated to the floating market. I was shocked to see how many boats came to buy and sell to each other. I was not expecting so many people to still rely on the Mekong as their main source of wholesale purchasing and money making.
The buyers and sellers of the floating market have much more determination and willpower than I do. Those who sell the goods live in their boats. You can see their clothes hanging from the windows and their pet roosters moving around the boat. Those who buy the goods wake up even earlier than we did to provide food for their businesses for families. I fully respect both sides of the floating market. It’s just a regular day to them. It’s all they know. They live a simple, yet fulfilling life. It is difficult to explain just how remarkable this experience is. The easiest way to explain the socioeconomic aspect of the Mekong Delta is to listen to Simple Man. It was a great weekend to unwind, besides the early wake up. I am incredibly excited to see where the last week takes me. I think I know which song will be played every morning.
