Mekong Delta
VIETNAM
Big Pao Saves the Day
By AARON
Saturday, July 30, 2011
To split up our time in Saigon, Lyndi and I decided to head south to the Mekong Delta, which is at the southern tip of Vietnam, and is a collection of small islands laced with interlocking rivers and waterways. Not learning our lesson from the Cu Chi Tunnels, we decided to do a tour of the Mekong Delta, in which we were corralled again into a big bus, where J.J., our over-talkative tour leader told us interesting stories sprinkled with one liners such as “no money, no honey” and “Snake whiskey is good for your snake!” (as he winks at all the guys).
As we were taken from tour point to tour point, we did see some interesting things like a coconut candy factory, a wat with a big, fat Buddha statue, and a bee plantation, where they harvested honey to make anything from honey liquor to honey scented lotion. The highlight though, had to be the grand finale. It was so grand they had to break it into two parts just so our heads wouldn’t explode from the sheer awesomeness of it.
Part one was actually pretty cool as J.J. brought out a python (a local resident of the Mekong Delta) and let those who wanted to hold it. I got in line and I must say, this snake was big, heavy and a bit friendly as it tried to enter my pants via my zipper. This moment, of course, was promptly seized by J.J. to once again make his joke about snake whiskey and all of the guy’s “snakes”.
In part two, we were sat down in front of two old local guys and two local girls while they played us local music which was sang by the girls. And by “sang”, I mean butchered. Maybe this is how the local culture sings, or maybe these girls were just born tone deaf, but it did leave Lyndi and probably most people in our tour group leaving with a huge sense of pride, knowing that when the call came, they would not only compete, but destroy the competition on “Vietnam Idol”. Tempted as I was to buy one of their CDs they had for sale on display ($10USD by the way), I settled for dropping some dong in their tip basket, as we were all told by J.J., “tips are not compulsory, but you should tip them”. (By the way, the dong is the name for the currency in Vietnam, not another J.J. joke.)
Opting to stay in the Mekong Delta for a day or two more, we said goodbye to J.J. and took a taxi to the less-touristy town of Ben Tre. We found a nice hotel right on a pond in the middle of the city, and after walking around a bit on the waterfront, we were pleased to see only locals in this town, and not a bunch of other tourists walking around in ugly Beer-Lao tank tops.
One benefit of heading to the less touristy parts of any country is that you feel like you can really get to know the area a bit more on a local level. One really bad disadvantage is that if you do not speak the local language, your communication skills may be put to the ultimate tests.
Trying to find dinner on our first night was truly a test as we pointed to things on menus and were either looked at weird or answered in Vietnamese. We finally found a restaurant with English, but Lyndi’s “prawns cooked in a coconut sauce” turned out to be just two steamed prawns (no coconut whatsoever), one of them pregnant mind you, so we promptly left and found what has been my savior throughout SE Asia – the Big Pao.
Pronounced “Big Paw” by the locals (if you’re in Malaysia or Singapore – in Vietnam it’s called something else that slips my mind), it is a big dumpling stuffed with pork, egg and meat and it is just about the most delicious thing you can have in these countries. Oh, and it’s really cheap too.
Next morning we rented some bikes and took them outside of town and explored the delta. Considering it had been raining almost every day, we were lucky enough to have our first nice sunny day as we rode our bikes through numerous small little villages that sat near various waterways and rivers throughout the delta.
It was a picturesque day, and it was exactly what we were looking for in the Mekong Delta – friendly locals, beautiful lush, green scenery, and we were even rewarded with the company of a fat sumo baby at the shop that we stopped at for some iced tea. Not speaking a word of each other’s local dialect, the mom would just pinch her baby’s fat and laugh while we laughed as well. Nothing says funny like a fat naked baby being spoonfed a bowl of oatmeal that could easily feed four.
That evening our hotel lady pointed us in the direction of a local food joint where after some pointing and gesturing we were treated to three main courses that not only filled us up, but were quite tasty as well. Whoever thought of mixing in seasoned pork with scrambled eggs and then pouring a sweet chili sauce over it should be rewarded with at least one Michelin star. Just sayin.
Since we were heading back to Saigon the next morning, we figured the best way to end such a great day was to get some Thai Whiskey and Coke, sit out on our patio overlooking the pond, and slowly drink the night away.
