Travel Log: Vinh Long (February 28 - March 4, 2007)

Note: This post is part of a series regarding a recent trip.  Please read this preface to the series prior to this post for context.

What a day.  Our epic trek to and through Vietnam started at about 8:30pm (February 28) when we checked into the flight we would be taking later in the night at 1:00am.  We thought we were ahead of the crowd by lining up 30min before the ticketing counter was open, but it turned out that we got two of the last "deluxe" seats available.  We later learned that EVA Airways (pronounced "EEE-VEE-AY-EL-Ways" I think ... ;) "Deluxe" seats were actually very good... quite a bit wider (for those of us with "wider seats") and with more let room than regular economy (and didn't cost that much more).  Business class would have cost us an extra $1200CAD just from Vancouver to Taipei... not worth it.

So after checking in, getting our seats and checking our luggage we headed home for some final packing (into our carry-on luggage) and then to visit family for a couple hours.

We got to the airport for boarding about 1.5hrs early.  Thuy's family and even extended family was there to see us off.  We queued at the gate, then got on our flight on time (about 12:20am) for the scheduled 1:00am departure.  At 1:00am (on board) the captain informed us that because of the freakish snow/hail storm, they would have to pull out of the gate over to the de-icing area, which would delay us 30-45min.  That was fine...

One and a half hours later, the captain again informed us that the de-icing crew accidentally shorted some electronics and they couldn't start the plane (!!!).  In fact, at one point we spent about 40min onboard the 747-400 (with 100's of other people) with no power and more importantly, no air conditioning.  Though I had spent most of the time to this point sleeping (to Thuy's disappointment), it was difficult to sleep in what was fast becoming a real sauna.

Anyway, fully 2.5hrs after our scheduled departure time we were in the air about 3:40am, which made us miss our connection from Taipei to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).  We got the next flight pretty quickly and finally pulled into Saigon's International Airport.  Customs was a breeze after wading through a see of (much shorter) people to retrieve our luggage and then we were greeted by 32-35 degree (Celsius) weather and a wall of humidity outside the airport.

Thuy's Mother, Uncle and Cousin (all from Vancouver) who had been there for weeks already met us at the airport with one of Thuy's local Aunt's.  They had "rented a van", which in Vietnam means that you "rented the driver" too, which drove us for a quick bite to eat in Saigon, then off straight to Vinh Long which is Thuy's Mother's home city.

Vinh Long is quite interesting.  It turns out it isn't the "small town" that I had understood it to be.  Apparently it has over 1 million people in the town and surrounding area.  I am definitely the only white guy for miles, but the people are very friendly (despite the staring and the white guy) and helpful.  Not much spoken English here, so it is good that Thuy, her Mother and her Uncle are here.  There are actually a number of other cousins here as well that are showing us around.

The streets here are interesting... a steady stream of scooters, dotted with a few cars and vans (which are mainly taxis).  The scooters, with their smaller engines are actually not that loud, and you can stand on the edge of the road with hundreds of them screaming by, and it is actually quite muted.  Horns however are used quite liberally for anything from, "I'm coming up behind you", to "Look out!".  Though the street signs, road lines and other "rules of the road" are more suggestion than regulation, there is a certain harmony to the chaos.  Crossing the street as a pedestrian is more of an exercise in confidence.  You just have to step out confidently into traffic and hope to heck that they go around you (and they do... quite proficiently).

Food in Vinh Long so far is great.  We went out for dinner, and we bought for eight other family members (two local cousins, one with his wife and child, as well as Mom, Uncle Loc and Canadian cousin Peter).  It was quite lavish, and I got introduced to another local beer:  Tiger Beer.  Not bad for a lager...

... anyway the dinner came to 429,000 Dong (which is only about $35CAD).  Pretty good value.

 My first experience with "real" Pho (and my favourite Pho Chin Nam) was at the hotel.  Pho is a very common dish in Vietnam generally, but is also a common (and for me, became a favourite) breakfast.

Thuy seeing her Grandmother for the first time in seven years.  Her grandmother is very sweet, but extremely shy.  We had a great dinner at an aunt's house, and spent time catching up with the family.  In fact, I spent most of the time watching Vietnamese TV with a few of the younger kids as I wasn't really keeping up with the Vietnamese discussion.

The next day, Thuy's Mom commissioned a river boat for the day (about $60USD) to take us around various estuaries of the Mekong.  The trip was great, and after having started with a good supply of a dozen or so of our sugar cane drinks we set out on the river.

The river trip was wonderful (photos here), and in hindsight was probably one of the highlights of the trip.  We started off down the river and were able to see all sorts of "river life" and the number of people that obviously make a living on the great Mekong River.  The river is brown, but less because of pollution and more because of the amount of sediment that is dragged from the banks during the rainy season up river.  We started with a trip to a small family-run "candy factory".  In fact it was a small family-run business that manufactured by hand coconut candies.  After that we wen to a fruit farm, Cay Giong (photos here), where for $7000D (about $0.50USD) you could tour the various fruits gardens and sample as much as you could eat.  We even met an "Uncle Ho" (as in Ho Chi Minh) lookalike (photo) who was selling his own homemade wine (which was about 90 proof).  It was okay, but tasted like a cloudy potato vodka.

After the fruit farm, we went to an Island restaurant that was built around a small man-made (and square) lagoon.  There were small platforms/huts built over the lagoon that featured a table (or two) as well as a number of hammocks (which I made use of for a quick 45min nap).  The concept is that you have your hut for 2-3hrs to relax and eat leisurely over that period.  It was great, and if I recall the entire meal was less than $30USD.

An interesting memory of Vinh Long is that the humidity was off the cart for two reasons:  a) because I had just arrived in Vietnam and had not acclimatized myself to it, and b) proximity to the Mekong River.  The side effect was that my lens would fog up regularly on my camera, especially after leaving an air conditioned hotel room.

Anyway, time to head back to Saigon to meet our friends Darren and Mel as they head in from Winnipeg, Canada via Toronto, then Singapore (I believe).

To facilitate navigation this is a summary of posts in this series:

• Vinh Long (February 28 - March 4, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Saigon (March 5 - 6, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Nha Trang (March 7 - 9, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Siem Reap, Cambodia (March 10 - 13, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos from Siem Reap and Angkor Wat)
• Hoi An (March 13 - 18, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Ha Long Bay and Hanoi (March 19 - 23, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos from Ha Long Bay)
• Saigon (March 23 - 25, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)