This weekend was a much needed change of pace. We made our way out to the Mekong Delta, and from the moment we arrived, it was clear this part of Vietnam would feel very different from the energy of Ho Chi Minh City. The landscape was greener, quieter, and the pace of life noticeably slower in the best possible way.
The first day included a stop at a local amusement park where we played games against each other, and I managed to catch a fish at one of the stalls, which felt like a genuine accomplishment. Dinner that evening was followed by karaoke, which turned out to be one of the more entertaining nights of the trip so far. Everyone was in good spirits, and it was the kind of low-stakes fun that a packed itinerary does not always leave room for.
Day two started with a visit to a floating market, which was one of the more visually striking things I have seen since arriving in Vietnam. Vendors selling fruits, vegetables, and goods from their boats while buyers pulled up alongside them is a system that has been running the same way for generations. After the market, we spent about an hour in Can Tho, where I picked up two shirts that I was pretty happy with and grabbed an iced coffee to keep the momentum going.
Beyond the sights, spending this weekend in a much higher concentration of small and medium sized businesses gave me a new angle on the sustainability question I have been turning over since the Park Hyatt visit. Unlike large hotels with the resources to invest in food waste technology or automated energy systems, these businesses operate on tight margins and cannot afford large changes. But upon closer inspection, I noticed that many were already doing things that qualify as sustainable. Local food vendors at the floating market sourced produce directly from nearby farms, cutting out long supply chains that generate significant waste and emissions. Some of the restaurants we visited would feed our food waste to fish to save money and cut out the need to buy them food separately. Several shops were using natural ventilation rather than air conditioning, which, in a riverside environment, actually works surprisingly well. None of these is a dramatic overhaul. They are practical, low-cost habits that happen to align with sustainable principles. It made me think that for small and medium businesses, the path to sustainability might not start with investment at all. It might start with recognizing and building on what they are already doing right.
