I am back in the Mekong delta ! Returning to the area, six years after I spent three months working at Tra Vinh University, brings back many good memories.
I started my Mekong tour with a quick trip to the mekong delta's biggest city, Can Tho (population 1.5 million). My friend Rena had highly recommended Can Tho Touring with Susan so i signed up for a tour and homestay with Susan, a 26-year old tourism grad. Definitely did not disappoint. Susan is cute and bubbly and eager to share her knowledge of her hometown. We visited the Can Tho floating market, learned how rice noodles are made, saw how the locals get their rice husked (with a machine) and went shopping for a meal that we "helped" to cook - although Susan and her mom did most of the cooking ! We learned how to make a steamed rice paper dessert that i would describe as "ha cheong fan" without the shrimp and dipped in a sweet coconut and peanut sauce. Susan's family appear to have been relatively well off and they farm rice and many types of fruits and vegetables.
My favourite parts of this tour were tasting durian (the durian tasting generated a strong range of reactions from the German couple doing the tour with me-priceless grimaces and exclamations of "Yummy !" and "Ick!" ) and playing with Susan 's beautiful cats and dog, as well as visiting the floating market. It was also quite exciting to visit an orchard and find out how durian, mangosteen, jackfruit, pomelo, dragonfruit and kumquats are grown.
Then it was off to Tra Vinh ! I had forgotten what a pleasant town it is. TV University has gone on a building spree and now have a whole second campus across the road from the original one. The new campus (which is all painted in yellow as per the rector's favourite colour) houses Medicine and Law faculties in addition to dorms for 3,500 students. The Gender and Community department moved three times and is now housed in one of the buildings of this new campus area. My former colleagues continue to teach English and Khmer culture and give workshops on gender equality.
Memory is a funny thing. I thought I had forgotten how to get around campus but my feet somehow remembered the way to my old office (now occupied by the Vice Dean of Aquaculture studies). I remember Khmer dance classes outside the office and so many breaks for ca phê sua da (sweetened iced coffee). I was actually ridiculously pleased to stumble across a group of students practising a dance choreography in honour of TVU's 15th anniversary - just like the countless rehearsals I witnessed in 2010. (Linh mentioned that her students are always late for rehearsals and Kim Anh complained her students are too lazy to do their homework. I guess some things don't change.)
And of course the trip down memory lane included sampling my favourite Tra Vinh dishes like nem nuong (barbecued meat rolled with fresh rice noodles, lettuce and herbs and dipped in fish sauce).
Fun things to do in Tra Vinh include visiting the Ao Back Om (pond) and some of Tra Vinh provinces' 140 Khmer temples. It's a laid back little town that few foreigners visit, but it is worth the detour IMHO.
Next stop will be Saigon and Dalat as I make my way north!
xo
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