CRUISING THE MEKONG

This tenth-longest river in the world flows through China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It forms a natural border between Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Its length is estimated at a respectable 4,350 kilometres. For Vietnam, the Mekong Delta is crucial - in this country it covers an area of 70,000 km² and has an enormous influence on local agriculture. It allows a large territory to be irrigated, and so this region is very fertile all year round. Since time immemorial the river itself has also served to sell the crops grown here, and so the floating markets have always been a great spectacle, one that I wanted to see as well.

As my starting point I chose the town of Can Tho. You can get here fairly easily by bus from Ho Chi Minh City. The town lies on the Sông Hậu river, one of the branches of the Mekong in its delta. With growing industry in the surrounding area, the town is expanding a great deal, and it's now said that, including the outskirts, over a million people live here. At your hotel or anywhere in town you can very easily arrange a day trip on the river, where you'll see the floating market, visit a rice paper workshop, and who knows what else. All that for a negligible sum in dollars. Early in the morning you board a little boat in a small group and travel about an hour out of town. Along the bank you can watch the local poor dwellings. The whole time in Vietnam I was fascinated by how you'll find poverty and wealth right next to each other. Even in the town centre you'll come across shacks like these, made of corrugated metal, by the river.

After about an hour of sailing you arrive at the floating market. That is, at something that a few years ago used to be a thriving floating market. Unfortunately, lately many market traders are leaving this trade and would rather go work in one of the factories, where they earn more money. And so the traditional markets keep shrinking and shrinking. There were, however, a few boats on the river, so I got to watch mainly the melon sellers. It's interesting that the goods are mostly stored in the hold, and what's for sale on a given boat is announced by the product on offer displayed on a long pole above the boat. This is what wholesalers in particular look like. Ordinary people buy from them for their shops or restaurants.

Then we steered the boat into one of the backwaters and travelled through a rural area. The Mekong Delta is so strongly connected to the sea that even here the tide comes in and goes out. And so strongly, in fact, that within a short while the water in the river dropped so much that we nearly got stuck on the muddy bottom. The boat's crew had to pull up the propeller and push our boat along using only a long pole. In order to sail on, we got off the boat and walked a stretch along the river until the water rose a little again. The sight of the half-empty river was interesting, and on the bank we passed traditional workshops where, for example, rice paper is made, rice is processed, and so on. Here and there something is set out for tourists to buy, or a little refreshment stall.

At one refreshment stop we paused for lunch, and after the meal our guide surprised us by pulling out some homemade liquor. He told us it was a family speciality of his, where dried bananas are added to rice spirit, steeped in it for about a week, so the whole drink takes on a strong banana flavour. So he handed round the glasses and set about explaining how you properly say \"cheers\" in Vietnam. So we all pronounced Một, hai, ba, dô, which means one, two, three, drink. And apparently, after these words, you drink only in one go. I don't know what the guide was up to, but the bottle soon went down, and combined with a temperature of over thirty degrees, it was perfect for a total spinning of the head.

The water in the Mekong, that is, in one of its countless branches, rose, and so we could get back on the boat and sail on and on. Shooting incredibly interesting scenes that were playing out along the shore, but above all right on the water on the surrounding boats. Even though I didn't see the floating market the way I'd dreamed it up from the photos I'd seen online before the trip, the Mekong still didn't disappoint me. I even spent a while looking into whether it might be possible to sail directly along the river to Châu Đốc, where we were headed the next day. But all I found was the information that boats don't usually make journeys this long here at this time of year, and so I'll have to enjoy this amazing river more some other time.

Tip 1: Book your river trip a day in advance so you can set off before dawn. The river in the morning is magical and the markets start very early. What's more, by starting early you'll outrun the lazy tourists.

Tip 2: Ask around about other cruise options - I have a feeling there were also multi-day cruises with an overnight stay in a \"homestay\", which could also be very interesting.

Gear: Almost all my tips start with telling you to bring a tripod. Today, though, please leave it behind. It would certainly be of no use to you on the boat. What you'll find handy instead is some kind of stabilisation system. That is, a camera with sensor stabilisation, or a camera stabiliser if you plan to film. An action camera could also come in handy - you can easily mount it anywhere on the boat and shoot interesting footage from the cruise, make a time-lapse video, or even dip it a little into the river to get an interesting perspective and a piece of the water's surface into your shots.