Floating traffic and markets on the Mekong

Day #4:
Yesterday it rained a lot, making aspects of our sightseeing a challenge; today the weather… great. By 10AM, we were at the Cai Rang Floating Marketplace (open 5AM – 11AM), one of the main markets in the Delta region.

Boat traffic. Murky waters. anarchy of boats and local merchants, selling produce was already underway…

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World’s Worst Toilets: Ancient Outhouse Squatter (Mekong Delta, Vietnam)

Imagine if you had to go to the bathroom at night?

Found in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam at a rice noodle factory- an old outhouse and rural brother to the asian squat toilet. How is it done? You go inside that box and straddle on the tree branches and watch out below! Don’t worry about there being traces of your last night’s dinner, the fish below are there to help you out.

Did I have to use this? Thank God, no. Fortunately for tourists and Vietnamese, the western toilet (with bedee) has (more…)

Life on the Mekong Delta: Rice is Life (Part II)

Rice is the heart of Asia.  Ask any Asian and they’ll tell you, meals are never complete without it. Being predominantly Japanese-Hawaiian and growing up in Hawaii, like many other Hawaii families, I was raised with rice on my dinner table as the staple (and incidentally, it is the “must have” of every Hawaiian plate lunch). Living in Korea, it’s always served with my school lunches and in Vietnam, well…  what do you think?  The Vietnamese are the second largest exporter of rice in the world after Thailand, and the Mekong Delta contributes to that growth by, sourcing numbers (more…)

My smooth budget tour of the Mekong Delta (Part I)

I  did a 2 day-1 night tour of the Mekong Delta with Delta Adventures… $19! (couldn’t you just cry?) No shocking travel stories or freakouts, all went smooth. When you’re on a tour, everything is controlled by the itinerary. If you’re like me, the only thing you’ll wrestle with that an itinerary doesn’t always allow as much free time to explore a place a bit as you’d like. And with life in the Delta revolving around rice, river channels and riverboat commerce, you’d need time (more…)

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