Mai's Travel Journal: Chapter 21 - Soc Trang

Wednesday, 10 November 2004

I turned back on the road to Can Tho to go over to Soc Trang, of course again on the Can Tho ferry, and noticed the confusion on the ferry stop. But this is a journey with so many new discoveries.

Firstly, I suddenly realized that poultry was being transported all around me. Chickens and ducks were everywhere, in small trucks. Sometimes when the vehicles stopped, a few large sacks were pulled out on the side of the road. These were full of innards from different kinds of animals and poultry. I wasn't clear where they were being taken to, but seeing the way everyone took them out, stuffed more in and threw them about made me worry about the food safety practices.

The bus went about half way down the road, when a lottery ticket seller appeared. “You should buy a ticket, they're good numbers and they're sure to win”. That's what that the ticket seller told me, in his fast-paced, clever way. Then, one number was drawn, ticket number 93, which had just been sold in the first sale – you can't be stingy and throw away good luck, and so the number of tickets sold increased. I'm not sure after that how many people won anything, I only saw the number of tickets in the hand of the ticket seller go down, bit by bit, as the amount of money in the pockets of the people around him also decreased. Every person, buying just a little bit. It's nothing special, everyone would think that, wouldn't they?

Soc Trang was really sunny and dustier than Tra Vinh, but it wasn't too large to get lost in. Even so, you could easily seem like a ‘dumb chicken', looking around. I was really lucky as I could get around, with my own mouth and my own two feet, so I didn't need to be cunning like a sly old fox at all, and didn't have to worry about being hassled. Another experience on the road in the southwest. If you push yourself, you can be confident.

The afternoon continued with me tapping away on a computer. I used the time I spent waiting like this. Really interesting, huh?

Thursday, 11 November 2004

I arrived in the Cu Lao Dung region. Cu Lao Dung is a new district; it's like a small island region on the banks of the Hau River. To cross over to Cu Lao Dung there's just oneway, that's by ferry. It feels so vast and huge, I'm afraid of sinking deep under the blood-colored alluvial waters of the Hau river. I didn't know which part was Cu Lao when the ferry reached the three-way meeting point of water, water and water. Then the green Cu Lao gradually came into view. This is the place where many people in Ham Giang, Tra Cu, Tra Vinh said they came to work. A piece of land thatis prosperous and well-off. I thought that before I even set foot on the bank of Cu Lao Dong.

The road in Cu Lao Dung runs between fields of sugar cane and fruit trees on both sides, immense and perfectly straight. Sometimes little bridges made just of bamboo or logs connect the two sides of the canals, making me feel afraid every time I think I have to cross over. But certainly, I'm in an area where life is lived on the river, the waterways of the southwest. Oh, my fellow countryman, the Mekong!

Once again on the ferry, I'd not yet have to cross a bridge to go back to east An Thanh village. Going back to east An Thanh at a time when the river has dried out, well it can't be done, the ferry can't go, and you must wait until the water's risen again, and only then can you get across. Oh, water!

East An Thanh, with its fields of fruit trees, rows of coconut trees all on a slant, sugar cane, manioc. It seems so prosperous, just how everyone always describes the countryside in this place. Even so, it's like other places I've been to from Can Tho, with many kinds of people: rich people, people with land who are still poor, people without land to work on, people who have no land to work on or to live on.

I found a southwest which is different from how I'd imagined it, a southwest of people who have no land, not even land to live on.

I followed Ms. Hang, an officer of the village Union, as she went from place to place in East An Thanh. I remember how hesitant I felt, setting foot on the little old canoe to get across to Ms. Hai Phat's home. Arriving there, I ran all over, wearing out my feet before I'd covered the whole expanse of the house's orchard. I was surprised by the thoughts that I rarely heard anyone, particularly women, express: “I often watch television, compare myself with the characters, think about and lament my lot in life, but my life is just like this, the life of my children surely must be different. Because of that, it's hard and I never let the children rest”.

Hai Phat's family is still poor as her little Trang suffers from a kidney disease. Every couple of months, Trang's mother and father gather up a few million dongs to take her to the city for treatment. That money is nearly the family's income for the whole year. “Little Trang knows this, so she really tries at school, and paints really beautiful pictures”, Hai says, getting out a whole pile of paintings that the little one has done. I was surprised actually; they were beautiful, not just in the silly way of children but with a real spirit about them. I have no talent for painting so I often feel envious of those who really have such a gift. But this time I wasn't, I was wrapped up in the image of the pictures a sick little girl could see through the frame of the window, as she waited for the leaves to fall from the trees. I thought of the line “The last leaf” by O'Henry, and I wished I knew myself how to draw that last vanishing green leaf like the old painter in the story.

I got one-third of the way across one of the plank bridges, feeling like I was swinging and flying, before I turned back. It was like being carried along in a current of water even though my feet were still far from the river. I was terribly ashamed when I saw people from around here running along the planks, carrying loads on their backs as well. Life makes us adaptable, and there are some things that I've not been able to adapt to. That's something I've learned that I owe to the land and water of East An Thanh.

I ran along the main road in the village, towards the house of two sisters who are well known for breeding livestock. One pig became a whole herd – who knows how many litters of pigs have come out of their pens. First I came to a store, selling all kinds of things, even food for the animals. Then behind the house were four pig pens, one with a litter getting ready to leave the pen, one lot still small, and one lot really tiny, all neat and tidy. The two sisters and their old mother take it in turns to keep an eye on the store, the pigs and even do some sewing, then sometimes they row a boat to go and get things, or go over to Kien Giang to work in the fields of the houses that need labour. I don't know how they manage all of these tasks and their time, as I sometimes can't manage to do my work, just having my study.

Friday, 12 November 2004

I left Cu Lao Dung at seven in the morning. I was really lucky as the water had started to rise and the ferry could cross again. I had to sit on a motorbike from then till about 12, to get to Vinh Chau district, of course not including my three trips on ferries. The last time on the ferry, the section of the road to Vinh Chau had almost disappeared. The bridge connecting Vinh Chau with Soc Trang village had been completed but you had to wait until the 20 th of November before you could cross it by vehicle. The ferry stop is about to be done away with, so no one will need to pay attention to his or her temporary nature anymore.

I crossed on the ferry and saw Vinh Chau, so crowded and cramped by comparison to Cu Lao Dung, which was spacious, spread out and empty. I couldn't imagine where I would go in Vinh Chau. I don't want to dare to get acquainted with it. If I don't stay, I will get on the road to Bac Lieu straight away, as from here Bac Lieu is very close – about 35 kilometers and the road is good.

Chapter 21 - Soc Trang - Photo Gallery

Photos: Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai
(select image to enlarge)

1. River is flowing between Cu Lao Dung district center and An Thanh Tay villiage

2. Fruit orchard
3. Drainage ditches around orchard

4. the plank bridges, that I gave up to go over
5. cutting sugarcane a popular work

6. Road to going down ferry-boat to An Thanh Tay villiage