September 6, 2008
Riverine Excursion

Back in Manila, we were undecided on which Mekong River tour to take. Both tours were inclusive of free lunch and had a difference in cost of 1USD so we had to choose based on what activities we preferred. We were initially planning to take the Cai Be-Vinh Long tour— Cai Be Floating Market, Vinh Long Market, crossing My Thuan suspension bridge, orchard tour, rice paper-making and rice crispies production. We were seduced by pictures of floating markets and thought it would be interesting to see an uncommercialized (by virtue of being unknown and in Vietnam) floating market (unlike in Thailand). In the course of our online research, we stumbled upon photos of Cai Be Floating Market which did not look half as close as the picture we put on our PowerPoint presentation to excite our potential trip mates. The market even looked barren. We transferred our attentions to the My Tho-Ben Tre Tour—floating fish market, crossing Mekong River by motorboat, row boat riding along Mekong River creeks, bee-keeping farm, traditional music performance and coconut candy production. It didn’t look much special than the other, but Melissa favored the scenery afforded by low-hanging branches and trees on the banks (Think ‘beautiful rural scenery with the sun beating down on the boat’ scene on the movie Anaconda before the anaconda comes up to attack them.). We then vacillated on whether or not to scrap the whole Mekong River experience altogether. I’m glad we didn’t.

We pushed through with the My Tho-Ben Tre Tour. I’m especially happy with our choice in hindsight since it was the less commercialized of the two places, and we got to travel around a small part of the mighty Mekong River. The Mekong River travels through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, China, and Burma. It’s a major source of livelihood for a great many rural folk. The river is a dark brown because of the rich mud underneath.

We used a small motorboat to traverse the Mekong from our drop-off point after an hour and a half trip from Sinh Café. There were four islands in our vicinity- Phoenix, Tortoise, Dragon, and Unicorn Islands said to symbolize power, beauty, longevity, and strength. Our first stop was Phoenix Island. On the way, a larger ship with cars (ala RORO, did we get the idea from Vietnam?) honked and the passengers waved at us. That nice gesture portended to a happy trip ahead.

At Phoenix Island, we were first shown how rice paper (used to wrap spring rolls) was made. I attempted to turn the grinder used to turn the rice to paste, but it was too heavy. The paste was dried to make rice paper. We proceeded to an area where we were shown an oddity—a cobra and scorpion fermented inside a bottle. The resulting potion was supposed to enhance a man’s virility. The folk wisdom garnered some laughs as all sexually-related references seem to elicit. Then we went on to lunch.

Lunch was rice with fried spring rolls and a pork chop. The group was shown a local specialty, elephant ear fish, so-named for its wide ears. We ordered one. Our fish arrived with a server and some utensils. The server scaled the fish because its meat was the main ingredient for a spring roll. Apparently, rice paper isn’t similar to a lumpia wrapper. The brittle and dried paper had to be submerged in water briefly to become malleable after which it is used as a wrapper. I think I had three fresh spring rolls. The fish on its own tasted like tilapia.

We then left Phoenix Island to move to another island. We took a longer boat ride this time and got caught by heavy rains. The left side of the boat was heavily pelted by the rains, and umbrellas on the side couldn’t hold out anymore. Nikki, ever ingenious, thought to move our bench next to the bench on the right so we would be less hit by the rains. Soon after, everyone moved their benches. I recall kidding around that with the rains on the left and all the weight on the right, we might capsize. Thank God we didn’t because I cannot swim to save my life. Rains had been pretty intermittent the whole day, and I had been stupid enough not to bring an umbrella. We also met a fellow Pinoy on the trip who was on HCMC for a three-week assignment for his company. The gang suddenly decided that they had a talent for matchmaking and very obviously would walk very slowly to leave me and the guy alone. I told them to stop, but they wouldn’t listen until I told them the guy was married with kids.

After a wet yet leisurely boat ride, we alighted at the next island where we supposedly passed through a bee farm. I didn’t get to see any bees until when we sat down for a short cultural performance. There were two local women and a guitarist who performed native songs. We were served honey tea and a small plate of fruits—banana, coconut, dragon fruit and rambutan. A bee that kept buzzing around got me on-guard. Because of a romance novel I had read wherein the male protagonist’s father dies because of an allergy to a bee sting, I too had become wary about bees. Melissa trapped the bee inside her teacup, and we put the honey bottle on the ground.

We had a washroom break after the performance and then proceeded to ride horse-drawn carts to an unknown destination. We were provided conical hats to shield ourselves from the sun. I thought it was provided for free as part of the package but unfortunately, it wasn’t.

The end point of our canoe ride was back to our motor boat. The tour wasn’t done yet as we were off to our final destination—a coconut candy factory. I cannot explain why I brought home five packs of coconut candy (supposed to be 6, more on this in Cambodia). In my defense, I was desperate to take home anything as pasalubong, and when I tasted the free sample and heard the words: Buy 5 Take 1,” I couldn’t resist. On the other hand, whatever possessed Ernest to declare “Give me 10!” with all ten fingers raised up without even seeing what the coconut candies looked like is beyond everyone’s comprehension. Coconut candy was the bane of our trip. Who knew coconut candy could be so heavy? Kristine was the only one who did not buy into the hype. She just had a drink of buko juice. The others also bought small replicas of the cobra-scorpion virility tonic as souvenirs. I don’t know if that was worse than the coconut candy. Love them or hate them, back in the Philippines, coconut candy was warmly received by those who were able to taste them albeit being mistakenly referred to as nougats. Camie and I were also able to watch a feature on this coconut candy factory in the National Geographic Channel. Our coconut candy is a celebrity.

Clutching our coconut candies, we boarded our motor boat to return to our bus. The moment I sat down, I put on my earphones and tuned everything out. It was around 4PM, the sky was about to turn dark, the wind was in my face and I had my most powerful and personal Vietnam experience. I got to introspection and was reflecting at how lucky I was to be in this trip with my friends. Being in wide open spaces always makes me amazed at and thankful for the majestic, and that time at the mighty Mekong River was no different. There I was in just one area of the River; I felt so attuned to how the river current was moving and how the sky was changing colors and how infinite some things can be. I felt blessed (or high, it depends).

Back in the city, we took a cab ride to a restaurant Ernest had spotted on Day One, Windows Café. We chose to sit outside and had the most awful time ordering since the entire staff couldn’t speak basic English. When the food arrived, the two tables we occupied weren’t enough, and the staff couldn’t understand our request for extra plates and utensils so we were forced to eat from the main plates. When the extras which were really essentials arrived, the food was halfway done. I can’t even remember the food. It was just so-so. The interiors were the only interesting thing in the place. It’s somewhat similar to the dining area Circles in Makati Shangri-la but on acid. Again, we couldn’t take pictures. The toilet stalls were wide and had TV screens. It was done in all black and was quite futuristic in design. Windows was some kind of hip bar since people were mostly drinking in trendy attire. The music was schizophrenic—from Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You to Sade to Mel C. I don’t consider Vietnam nightlife as lively since most nightlife ends by midnight.

The night was still young so we went to Diamond Plaza, a department store near the Central Post Office. Nikki, Gene and I went to the supermarket to buy some pasalubong. I got some instant coffee, was amazed to see C2 and had some free taste at a bakery outside. There were lots of people jostling for free taste so I had to squeeze myself in. Later on, we would learn from Mel and K that Ernest had also sampled the free bread. Afterwards, we meandered along Le Loi Street, a busy avenue with shops and restaurants.

We finally hit pay dirt with Trung Nguyen Coffee Shop when we find out that they serve Vietnamese coffee via a filter. Ernest had been hankering for this particular style of coffee after having had one in Shanghai. Trung Nguyen is one of the biggest coffee producers in the world’s second biggest coffee producer and exporter. Supposedly Trung Nguyen’s G7 blend (Bailey’s Irish Cream), their only 3-in-1 blend, is one of the top three bestselling instant coffees in Vietnam. Trung Nguyen coffee blends are designated by numbers instead of names like Cherry Mocha or Arabica Beans. While the menu explains the ingredients on a blend, the blends for sale only have Coffee 1, 2, 3 and so on written on the labels, a detail which dumbfounds me especially when the ingredients are listed in Vietnamese. Save for Melissa and Kristine, we all order Vietnamese coffee. Iced for the rest and hot for me. I don’t recall what blend of coffee I chose, but it had a cherry component to it. We spent quite awhile here talking and browsing the merchandise. The blends for sale here were cheaper than in the supermarkets. Almost all of us bought coffee filters for a measly sum of 30,000 dong. I should’ve bought more of these as pasalubong since it’s not easily available in Manila. We spent this Saturday night as though we were in Manila, and there was something vaguely comforting and disturbing about the fact that I was doing the exact same thing I would be doing had I not gone on this trip.

On the way back, Nikki and K caught sight of a sidewalk vendor selling magnets. I find out that Nikki collects magnets of the countries that she’s been to. We also passed by a KFC. It boggles my mind until now that we did not spot a McDonalds the whole time we were there. KFC was ubiquitous and even Jollibee had a presence. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try Lotteria, the local fast food chain. To flush out our remaining dong, we entered a small chocolate shop. The snooty salesman asked if we were from the Philippines, saying that our accent had given us away. I wonder what he meant.