Elephant ear fish

Like durian and marmite, Vietnam seems to be another place that travellers either love or hate. Why? I hared lots of different reasons, from the quicker pace of life, to the relentless harassment, to the lack of veggie food. All valid reasons, I guess. I was just about to see for myself. A short and expnsive ride from Kep took us to the border, and since there to the border town of Ha Tien. The difference with Cambodia and Laos couldn't have been more obvious. Firstly, Vietnamese look different from the rest of SE Asians. They are more slender and fair-skinned, more Chinese-looking. Ladies are absolutely stunning. Friendliness is not easy to detect for a newcomer, business seemed to be Vietnamese's only concern. Join this mindframe with the presence of Westerners and you get the result; ripoffs, harassing and the ubiquitous 'where you go?'... needless to say I was quickly losing my temper. I was not liking Vietnam.






Shame, though. I always pride myself of being able to find a good point, everywhere I go. But after that first day, Vietnam was looking like a tough challenge. I found myself haggling over bus rides and bottles of water. I felt like everybody out there wanted to rip me off, to get that wee bit extra as 'white tax'. It bothered and enraged me. That evening, a tout quoted $ 25 for a boat trip around Can Tho's floating market. 25 dollars! you must be joking! I said. He did not seem to budge at first. Eventually, we paid about 10 dollars for the trip.



Anyway, that's the background. The first three days in Vietnam were spent mourning our depatrure from Cambodia, wishing we were still there. We were in the Mekong delta, travelling to Saigon via Can Tho and Ben Tre. The Mekong delta was far from being the 'bucolic paradise' described by guidebooks. Can Tho and Ben Tre (who was suggested as being a 'lovely little relaxing place) were in fact medium-sized towns, clogged with traffic and with septic bubbling 'rivers'. What a sad demise for the mighty mekong, who greeted us into Laos, followed us down the spine of Indochina and into Cambodia. I could not believe that the emerald-coloured waters of Don Det, the teal expanse separating Laos and Thailand at Pakse and Vientiane was the same river we saw in the delta. Ok, if we want to be precise, it's not. The murky waters at can Tho seemed to be carrying the sorrows and troubles of Indochina into oblivion. Like a tired old woman, bidding farewell to life.




We did the Mekong delta thing, floating markets. I loved the market we saw, it looked authentic, not a tourist show like Damnoen Saduak near Bangkok. Plus we had the best pineapple I have ever tasted. But besides that, everything was rather dull. Boat tours everywhere, visiting the same old handicraft shops, factories and orchards. Like I came to Vietnam to see some bloody fruit trees! We have to thank the organised tours from Saigon for this. Anyway, we also passed on the classic mekong delta activity, homestay, when we learnt it was $10 per person. I like homestays, but I don't see the point of getting out of one's way to stay at someone's house. It's always the same old story at the end of the day.




So we headed for Ben Tre, the 'lovely relaxing little place'. After multiple rip-off attempts and a near-death experience thanks to a drunk moto driver, we reached the guesthouse we had chosen. It was a bit shabby around the edges, but nice. For dinner we had their 'world famous elephant ear fish'; a large freshwater fish fried and served with spring roll wrappers and a variety of vegetables, plus fish sauce (the real stuff). They even had snake and turtle on the menu, but the price put us off. Anyway, the fish was delicious, the family really friendly. I decided Vietnam was not so bad. Did I or did I not like it? Keep following me and find out...