Vietnam: Solo Adventures On The Mekong

Internet is almost unbearably snail here in Southeast Asia (we're talking mid 1990s speeds)! Consequently, we have only done the minimal of online work. Now we're in Laos. But I wish to tell a tale of one of our adventures on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

So as you read before we decided to take on the Mekong solo. The following is an account of our mis-misadventures.

We hopped on the back of motorbikes that scooted us to the public bus station. This in itself was a adventure in and of itself in a city that has more registered motorbikes then any city in the world!

From there we boarded a public bus and was instantly greeted with coy smiles and modest nods of approval by the common folk of Saigon. Sellers of fresh loaves of bread pushed their way onto the eary 1980s ear bus that was adorned with small patches of rust and coated with a patchwork of white paints that boar signs of coarse-bristled paint brushes barely visible under the thin layer of dust that covered it. The bread sellers, usually of the stereotypical Vietnamese variety- old, toothless, with their faces shaded in the conical weave of rice farmers hats, sold bread and everyone (I mean it EVERYONE) on the bus purchased at least one loaf. Alissa and I, although full, gradually collapsed under peer pressure (cultural pressure???) and purchased a few loaves. The locals smiles now beamed with the ultimate acceptance and approval.

We took that bus to a small city, Mytho, near the mouth of the Mekong. From this touristy city we hired a local lady to take us around to the small islands nearby on a rickety wood boat. Traveling down the small tropical canals of the Mekong, were truly surreal. With the tropical vegetation almost engulfing our small wood boat, we felt that at any given moment the Viet Cong would pop out of the shady foliage with guns pointed to kill. It was a scene right out of Apocalypse Now!

After visiting a few islands, we decided to spend the night on one. There was a small run down hotel located on this extraordinarily small tropical island. There was something odd about this island but we couldn't quite pin it down. Either way it was cheap, secluded and quiet.

The sun soon set as we unpacked our stuff for the night. As we walked the hotel grounds we discovered why it was so quiet, we were perhaps the only ones staying in this hotel. And as the darkness descended upon night, the few families on the island disappeared, and the creepy crawlies and other animals of the night seemed to take over.

Rats emerged and crawled freely about darted past our every stride, geckos and lizards scampered across our walls, and crocodiles splashed about in nearby waters. We were a bit freaked but with the whole island shut down for the night we were stuck.

Unable to sleep we, decided to roam the hotel. We stumbled upon dusty show room that explained the history of this hotel and the island. As it goes, this island was once home to a man named the Coconut Monk. The French Collage educated Coconut Monk left his wealthy family and pursued a meditative life surviving off only coconut milk for 3 years. He believed in the peace of all creatures and pressured the Vietnamese government to unite peacefully during the war. He had quite the following and built a temple. As it turns out the current ground of the hotel we now stayed at is the lodging for his past followers. Consequently, this hotel now displays the his wacky Apollo Space shuttle Pagoda among other architectural bazzarities.

In the corner of the show room we saw a picture of the Coconut Monk with many cats and rats on his lap. The write-up under the picture explains that "if he could teach rats and cats to be friends so could the world achieve peace"... well that explains everything!!!