During a recent trip to Tra Vinh, in the Mekong Delta, my friends and I decided to indulge in some exotic foods for breakfast, including frog curry, sauteed eel, snake stew, and minced snake. My friend John was particularly adamant about eating snake, but we were all excited to try these local delicacies. We chose the Cuu Long Hotel and settled into a large round table under a thatched roof.
Frog Curry
Sauteed Eel
Minced Snake
Snake Stew
It is common in many Asian cultures for people to drink snake blood in an effort to improve their strength, stamina, and masculinity. Knowing this, John decided he wanted to drink the blood of the snake we would be eating. In order to get this message across, we had to draw a picture depicting him being served the snake’s blood. Once this was accomplished, he then had to decide which liquor to drink the blood with. Something we all learned was that when drinking snake blood you mix it in a shot glass with rice wine, whiskey, or vodka. John chose vodka, not for the taste but for the fact that it was the cheapest option.
Tra Vinh is a small provincial town in the Mekong Delta, perfect for a relaxing weekend away from the noise and chaos in Ho Chi Minh City. Even though it is only takes 4 hours to get there by bus from HCMC, most foreigners tend to visit the larger cities in the Delta, like Vinh Long or Ben Tre, making Tra Vinh almost foreigner free. Early one morning, my friends and I decided to take a boat ride to Ben Tre, which according to the hotel owner was only an hour and a half trip. We woke up at 6 am because we were told the boats head out by 7 so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to find a ride.
We headed down to the market and started asking boat captains if they were headed to Ben Tre. It didn’t take long before we found someone willing to let us on board. Since these are just cargo boats transporting goods back and forth along the Mekong, the cost was very low for us to hitch a ride. The captain’s starting price was 100,000 dong per person ($5), which we knew was too high. After some negotiating in our broken Vietnamese, we got the price down to 70,000 dong ($3.50), however the boat wasn’t leaving until 9 am, so we had some time to kill in the market.
* An early provincial morning
*Banh Tet – a traditional food from this region, glutinous rice rolled in a banana leaf and stuffed with savory meat
The boat finally departed around 10 am and we were on our way to enjoying a relaxing river cruise of sorts. What was supposed to be an hour and a half turned into a 4 hour journey. No one seemed too bothered though, we had plenty of snacks, hammocks, and a bathroom, which was actually just a hole cut into the floor that went directly into the river. Soon after we set out, we noticed dark clouds ahead and prepared for the rain to come. The wind picked up and we had to retreat inside as the rain pelted the deck.
Once the rain stopped we moved back outside and as we got closer to Ben Tre, the site of towering piles of coconut shells became ever more prevalent. Ben Tre is known for its production of coconut goods, like candy and oils, so there are farms all along the delta. Most of the farms we passed had mounds of coconut shells stacked as high as a two story building and people hard at work collecting even more. All the people we passed would wave and smile as they loaded coconuts onto boats to be transported. Our own boat made a few stops along the way, dropping of goods to homes and local businesses.
Once we finally reached Ben Tre there was only enough time to have a few beers and some street snacks before heading back to Tra Vinh. This involved racing across town on the backs of some very speedy provincial xe oms, just barely catching the city bus to the ferry, then finding a bus that would take us the last 20 odd kilometers back to city at night.
When traveling in Southeast Asia, a popular way to stay is in an authentic living environment called a “home stay”. A home stay is run by a local family who goes through great lengths to provide their guests with a relaxing and traditional experience. While in the Mekong Delta I stayed at the Ah Khanh Blueberry Home Stay during the Christmas weekend, which turned out to be the perfect time to stay because we were pretty much the only guests. There were several outside seating areas, tropical fruits growing and chickens running around to make me feel like I was getting to experience the “real deal”.
* This is the freeway we had to cross in order to get to the entrance to the neighborhood the home stay was in. The traffic in the Mekong was much less hectic than in Saigon.
* Walking through the neighborhood to get to the home stay.
* One of the dining areas.
* Some of the grounds surrounding the home stay. Most homes in this neighborhood have canals winding through their property.
* A sign pointing to the home stay. The little girl is the daughter of the owner.
*Our room, mosquito net and all.
* They told us these were blueberries, they don’t look very blue though.
* Honeybees
* Coconuts floating in the waterways next to the sidewalks by the home stay
*Chickens are a common pet in Vietnam
* A very large Jack Fruit
* Cocoa leaves
If you are interested in staying at the An Kahn Blueberry Garden Home Stay, please contact the manager Dong: ankhanvuondau@yahoo.com
After the snake farm we headed to “The Big Buddha” at a temple in the Mekong Delta. The temple’s architecture was built in the same fashion as Cambodian temples with ornate decorations and lots of shiny gold. This Big Buddha is one of three in Vietnam, the other are in Nha Trang and Da Nang. All three were designed by the same man who, at the age of 75, lives in Da Nang. The Big Buddha is the Happy Buddha, which represents – of all things- happiness. I visited the Nha Trang Buddha a few months ago and was equally blown away by the size and beauty of the Mekong Buddha.
* Me, my mom and the Big Buddha
* Happy Buddha
The grounds surrounding the temple were decorated with perfectly manicured gardens and several other buddha statues.
* This Buddha protects fisherman while they are away at sea
* A shrine made of rocks from the centrals regions pieced together with conrete
*Figurines inside the shrine
* On each piece of white paper, people have written the names of deceased relatives they wish to pray for
On our first day in the Mekong Delta, our tour guide took us to a snake farm. This farm is owned by the military and is home to thousands of highly poisonous cobras and vipers. These snakes are used to make anti-venom for those who are unfortunate to meet them in the dark, dank jungles of Vietnam. Rows of little concrete huts lined the walkways throughout the farm so it was easy to get up close and personal with some of the most deadly snakes in the world. At one point, a cage my mom and walked past had a very active cobra who actually hissed and lunged towards the cage door. Luckily it wasn’t a spitting cobra our guide informed us so there was nothing to be worried about. One of the most unsettling exhibits was an open enclosure filled with poisonous tree vipers, one side green and the other brown. The longer I looked at the trees the more I noticed vipers hanging from nearly every branch.
*Each little hut housed one or two snakes
*This guy did not like us
*How many brown vipers do you see?
*How many green vipers do you see?
The snake farm had several other animals as well, including ostriches, monkeys, guinea pigs and an enormous albino turtle.
Of course what snake farm would be complete without the infamous Snake Wine available for purchase. This is rice wine bottled with the carcasses of dead snakes. Traditionally this wine was intended for the macho men to drink in order to improve their strength and demonstrate their toughness. Now it is novelty item that can still be sold for a fairly high price. Some bottles may even contain dead scorpions and birds.
This year Christmas for me was spent away from my friends and family. Luckily, my mom came out to visit so I got a little taste of home. We traveled to the Mekong Delta, only an hour and a half away from Ho Chi Minh City. One of the highlights of the trip was our Christmas Eve church service, where we proved to be more of an attraction than the seizure inducing lights, oversized baby Jesus in the manger or baby Santas running around. The Christmas pageant was one I will never forget. It started with the story of Adam and Eve, so I thought for sure this was literally going to take all night. However, once Adam and Eve were banished fromt he garden the story jumped ahead to a very pregnant Mary. She and Joseph found a room at the inn, which in the Vietnamese version is actually a cave in a very large mountain decorated with Christmas lights. This of course was followed by a dance performed by small children in Santa outfits and star wands pointing to where the baby Jesus had just been born. The grand finale was of course fireworks being shot from the front of the stage, much like the end of a Justin Bieber concert.
This was an interesting twist to a story I thought I knew all too well. I’m glad I was able to learn a new perspective on “the reason for the season”, especially since being away from home made the holidays seem less festive. Enjoy the videos taken in front of the church my mom and I attended and have a happy and safe New Year.
