Mai's Travel Journal: Chapter 19 - Can Tho

Wednesday 3 November 2004

I really enjoyed my journey to Can Tho. Today, I began my journey to the Southwestern part of Vietnam - which has the reputation of possessing endless areas of soil and water, where the “cranes can fly with outstretched wings”, all of which are totally new concepts to me.

First was Tien Giang, then the infamous My Thuan bridge and then Vinh Long. I can only imagine the vast yards of fruit trees such as rambutans, longans, guavas, durians, and so on. I kept looking around but it wasn’t as I had imagined. It must be around here somewhere, since I did read about the Mekong Delta and did see television shows about the fertile soils around the Cuu Long River.

Can Tho is on the other side of the river Hau, which is not that far a distance for the ferries to transport people across. This distance will not be a problem once the bridge across the Hau River is finished. I really wonder about the livelihoods of the people around here once the bridge is finished, but at least the chaotic scenes at this ferry terminal will be eliminated. I nearly twisted my neck from having to keep saying no to all the venders. Everything would be hand delivered to you at your wish, from boiled corn-on-the-cob to sandwiches, drinks, candies and glasses… and of course, lottery tickets too. Garbage was everywhere within throwing distance. No one minded and no one was disgusted with garbage falling in front of them.

“Ninh Kieu harbour with white rice and clear water…” [a common folk saying to describe the beauty and plentitude of Ninh Kieu harbor] but Can Tho is not as large and as crowded as I had imagined for a city of its caliber. Then again, I just arrived at My Tho from Ho Chi Minh City.

Thursday, 4 November 2004

“Transitional Centre” is the humongous name plastered on a big board on top of a gate in a narrow alley near the Kim Xuan Market. On my way in, I tried to imagine what it is but couldn’t. I could only guess about what it is after having heard some people talking about it.

The “transitional centre” belongs to the Social and War amputees’ veteran Labor department of Can Tho. It’s a transition centre for drug addicts to receive psychological counseling, human dignity re-education and detox. I can’t really say how many students there are in the centre, since people continually come and go.

I went to Co Do district, well known for its Hau River farmlands, fertile with rice and fruit crops. Actually, my destination is the commune of The Dong, which is the furthest part of Co Do district and is only accessible by boat.

Arriving at Thoi Dong, I realized the importance of boats in this area; it’s like owning a scooter in the city. Life on water is a daily part of people’s lives here. I was quite worried but gathered my courage and stepped down into a boat. I was afraid that it may tip over or sink and I don’t know how to swim. But in the end, I really enjoyed sitting in the river.

I don’t know whether I carried bad luck with me or what but it rained cats and dogs when I arrived at Thoi Dong commune. But then, because of that, I had the opportunity to visit the flood-proofed homes of the Khmer people. Each house in the flood-prone areas is worth 15 million dong. After five years, the people will have to begin to pay back the loan in the form of a monthly payment for 10 years.

Looking at the roughly built houses, with doors made out of cloth, I wondered how long these houses would last. But then to many people here, owning such a home was a dream come true. “For our entire lives, we have lived in other people’s houses. Walking in and out, you have to pay attention, but now owning our own homes feels really good and gives us confidence. Now, we just have to work and earn money for living expenses or to pay back the mortgage. Life like this is really good, nothing can beat it.”

This is the first time I saw so much water mixing in with land. It is also the first time I saw the humongous rice granaries, belonging to the government as well as private people. After all, this is the rice bowl [of Vietnam].

Friday 5 November 2004

I arrived at Phong Dien, where there’s a floating market and famous fruit gardens of Can Tho. The road leading to Truong Long runs along the Hau River, so I had the opportunity to look at the river and the fruit yards as well. Really interesting!

Now I am seeing things that I’ve only read about in textbooks and on TV. The plantations full of honey-oranges, coc fruit trees, mango trees, banana trees, durian trees… and in front of each house is the “caviar fruit tree”, providing shade and refuge from the hot tropical sun. I also saw boats packed full of agricultural products running up and down the rivers and dikes. I saw the fertility and richness of the Mekong Delta, as told to me by many people and through textbooks… just drop the net down and there will be fish and shrimps and the rice paddies are so fertile that you just can’t keep up with the weeding since it’s so vast.

But then, the Truong Long lands are well known for their honey-oranges but when I arrived most of the trees had been chopped down due to insect infestations and the falling orange prices. Truong Long is also facing a major disaster of giant yellow snails, just like many other areas of Can Tho and the surrounding areas of the Mekong Delta. Everywhere, under the trees, on the coconut leaves, on the river dikes, everywhere there are beds and beds of the giant yellow snails’ eggs. The people ended up catching these snails, grinding them up and feeding them to the ducks and the pigs. They kept on catching them endlessly but just couldn’t keep up with the reproductive rates of these pests. So, if they can’t get rid of them, they decide to live with them [the snails], “before, every house farmed these snails. Business was booming and no one realized that these snails had become a plague for us. For the past four years, every house has been wanting to destroy these snails”.

Truong Long has a vast body of water, but to find clean water for daily use is not easy. Each well here has to be at least 80m deep before it can provide useable fresh water and each well like that is worth about 2 million dong. Occasionally I saw images of people doing their laundry or washing their vegetables, or even bathing in the same body of water. Every once in a while, I’d run into urns of water next to the river underneath the trees. This way of life I guess has existed for generations and is so pervasive in their daily lives that no one really pays any attention to sanitation anymore.

I’ve pondered about the Mekong Delta; the lands here are so naturally endowed with nature’s blessings that everything’s so easily available. Land mass is vast yet not every family is lucky enough to own a piece of land, so they work as hired labour. The trees grew needing little attention, yet they encountered numerous natural enemies like insects, so crops are lost. Here it’s also quite easy to fish and tend to fish farming but then the fish die because they’re not genetically strong enough, or because of diseases and so there goes the investment capital. Even if the fish did survive natural calamities, the farmers would also have to deal with price drops and they’d be lucky if they didn’t lose their money. Lots of people have became rich through these plantations, these fish and shrimp farms, but then the number of people bankrupted by this land is not small either.

Chapter 19 - Can Tho- Photo Gallery

Photos: Nguyen Dinh Dong
(select image to enlarge)

1. Getting down in a motor-boat to Thoi Dong villiage, Co Do district
2. I am at Thoi Dong villiage

3. Road in Truong Long villiage, Phong Dien district
4. Road go to My Thuan bridge, builting across Tien river