Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long
The many mouths of Southeast Asia’s mightiest river
The mighty Mekong River flows over three thousand miles from its source high up in the Tibetan plateau, through China, Myanmar, Laos (forming part of the border with Thailand), Cambodia and Vietnam. It supports the lives of many millions along its length, and finally reaches the South China Sea in the Mekong Delta region south of Ho Chi Minh City, an area half the size of Scotland. It is the third longest river in Asia, and tenth largest in the world by average discharge.
We took a day trip to the Mekong Delta from HCMC which involved transport on several boats of increasingly smaller carriage, a visit to a local market, a coconut candy factory, having a snake wrapped round my neck and poking my finger into a bee hive to taste the honey, which was delicious! As I recall, the cost of the trip was approximately six US dollars in 2006, organised out of the backpacker ghetto Bui Vien in HCMC, and included lunch.
Boarding our starter vessel on the banks of one of the major Mekong channels, I think this was in the city of My Tho.
The city is built right onto the river front, or more accurately, in it, with shacks standing on stilts over the water. Motorised long boats are the quickest way to get around.
Earth moving contractors are keen to get every Đồng of value out of their equipment – this barge couldn’t take another spadeful of sand, and if a wave of any more than a few inches showed up, it would be at the bottom of the river in no time.
The banks of the river are where life takes place, with more makeshift houses piled on top of each other and overhanging the water. A good deal of them seem to have TVs, judging by the number of aerials mounted.
There are so many people crowding the banks of the Mekong river, that a significant number have simply taken the plunge and decided to live on the river itself, in houses floating on plastic drums.
This kind of jungle right next to the water reminds me of the opening scene in Apocalypse Now. Before the napalm, of course.
We transferred onto a smaller boat and made our way up one of the maze of channels to see what we could find.
Approaching a bridge. I suspect that the lower brown vegetation indicates the recent range of the river level, so the water was down on its highs for that season.
Onto a yet-smaller boat, and we were ferried up a small tributary towards a coconut candy factory by our cheerful pilot.
We quietly glided past a local cemetery. I can’t imagine it takes long for decomposition to take full effect in this environment.
A cluster of nón lá hats at a small traffic jam on a Mekong tributary.
Back on dry(ish) land, and it was on to the local market, with plenty of live beasts for sale, fruity greenness and traditional headgear.
Rats for sale! This cheery chap and his family were sitting at the edge of the road flogging their wares. According to our guide, these are high-quality rats as they live in fresh water as opposed to city sewers. The salesman didn’t get any joy with us, but I only had to wait a few years until the opportunity came up for me to try this delicacy, in China.
Created 2006 | Updated 2026
SnapHappyRoss 
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