Mekong Delta

This weekend, our crew headed out to the Mekong River Delta, which was a great little vacation away from the city. I couldn't believe how amazingly beautiful the Mekong was. It's funny. You hear about the Mekong and the river and think of the major battles of the war and how important it was to the South. But now it proves to be a peaceful, serene, and simple place where the vegetation is flourishing and the people depend on the river's resources to live.

On Friday, we crossed the river via ferry in to Can Tho, which is one of the larger cities in the region. We stayed at a hotel (AHHH!!!) where for the first half hour each and every one of us ran around exploring the bathroom with actual shower and bathtub, a blowdryer, and comfortable pillows. We love hotels. And, lucky for us, our ten day trip to the North starting Thursday is TEEMING with hotels. Woo hoo!

Saturday we were up and adam for a packed day. We visited a Biodiversity Restoration center in the middle of farm-country, which provided us with an info session on the impact of agent orange usage by American forces during the war on the environment. I could not believe how much vegetation was originally destroyed by the war, but I was even more impressed by how much of it had grown back, and how much the community was doing to improve the quick and steady recreation of national habitat.

Now, the fun part. We hiked through the woods on Saturday to take a tour of the Research center, but, low and behold, LEECHES! I have never seen anything like this. I guess I should consider it a first and be proud, but I had to yank many a leech off my ankles at the end of the hour hike. Needless to say, my socks and sneakers looked like a B grade horror film.

On Sunday, we spent the majority of our day on a boat! We toured the floating markets in Can Tho, which were a totally awesome sight. The marketplace takes place on the water, where each purveyor actually sails up to your boat in order to barter or sell their goods. The best is that in order to tell what each boat is selling you look to the tall pole on the bow of the boat, which hangs a pineapple or coconut or whatever is being sold. We also did a shot of snake wine at a farm with some locals (and our professor HA). For those of you who aren't familiar with snake wine, its rice wine that is fermented for about a year with a dead cobra inside of it. It was pretty good for 11:00 am on a Sunday.

Oh! And I held a 15 foot python, and it almost broke my arm. But I was the first one to hold it by myself so I think I am brave and pretty awesome. Secretly, it was scary and the snake felt gross, but what an experience.

Thursday we are leaving for our 10 day trek up North, which includes stops in DaLat, Danang, Hue, and many other small villages. Friday I'm riding an elephant. No big deal. But I'll make sure to keep everyone updated!! Much love.

Oh. Quick note... The blog is being a pain about letting me upload photos, so if you have a facebook account make sure you check out the photos on there! Or bug my Mom to send you some. Sorry Mom, I'm in Vietnam, remember? Internet is shady here.

Chao cac ban!