Vietnam Day 3 – Around Vinh Long

Good morning Vietnam. I am still in Vinh Long which is located about 3 hours south of Saigon and right on the Mekong Delta.  You know the Mekong Delta is the long river like the Amazon that flows through most of the south of Vietnam.  The river is a source of transportation, food and livihood for the people of Vietnam. In fact Tu’s parents own a large construction supply company and they use the river and barges to transport their goods.  The river branches in so many directions here in Southern Vietnam you can practically get anywhere that you want by River.  The second choice of course is scooters and there are millions of scooters virtually everywhere on the streets.  You don’t see cars but you see millions of people riding scooters – in fact the whole family will jump on the scooter and head out to dinner just like we would jump in our cars with the family to go out for a nice dinner.

This kid looks a little sleepy.  It isn’t unusual to see passengers on the scooters so comfortable that they actually fall asleep while the scooter rumbles down the road.

The other way people get around here is by bike. You will see people dressed up in their Sunday best on their bikes.  I have noticed the roads are so dusty that my clothes actually get quite dusty by the end of the day.  Thank God that Tu has a laundry machine in her house or I would be looking pretty dingy.

The Mekong Delta can be very pretty but everything here is so green.  When you are traveling along the river the jungle is so dense and green and tropical.  You can pick fruits off trees and eat them if you want.  I don’t but Tu always does.

Vietnamese food is really good and fresh and pretty low calorie.  For lunch today we had hot soup that was boiled fresh over wood.  This is the equivalent of a Vietnamese hot plate done the old fashioned way with burning wood.  So great.

The Vietnamese kids are very cute.  Tu has a ton of nieces, nephews and kids running around.  We took some pictures of some of the girls at her mom’s workplace.

Here she is again being funny.

And another little girl that works with her mother.

Here is another black and white portrait of her.

I took this picture at Tu’s factory.  The guy was toiling away carrying loads of bricks on his back off a boat into the warehouse.

I always wonder why everyone stares at me here and then I realize that they have a big camera pointed at them.