Saturday, February 13, 2010

I wonder if it's the coconut that makes you crazy...

No visit to Southern Vietnam would be complete without an excursion into the 'rice bowl' of Asia, the Mekong Delta. Fed up with public buses and people in general, we opted to hire a private driver and guide (Vo) for this excursion. It turned out to be a fantastic idea; we had an amazing day lazing about the area.

Just a few short minutes after leaving downtown Ho Chi Minh city and we entered a new world, vibrant green rice patties as far as the eye could see. There is one disturbing fact that I will bring to your attention however - the rice patties are dotted with...graves. It seems that it is customary to bury the dead on the homestead. It's an odd site to look out and see hundreds of tombstones surrounded by a lush crop that will ultimately end up a side dish on my plate.

As I am learning in SE Asia, getting to any location will require several forms of transportation. Our van dropped us off at a port where we boarded a boat to cruise through some of the thousands of Mekong waterways, eventually arriving at an island that housed an unexpected treat...a candy factory. A little bit like a creation out of Willy Wonka right there in the middle of nowhere! These resourceful Vietnamese had figured out a way to squeeze apart the coconut and milk out all the liquid from the meat. The dried shells would then be used to fuel the fire that would heat the coconut juice into a creamy liquid. Once the desired consistency was reached, the mixture was poured out onto a table, cooled, cut into bit-size pieces and then voila - coconut candy!

Tummies full of coconut toffee, we hopped onto a metal wagon pulled by a moto and scooted through the 'suburbs' of this remote area to a local restaurant. There is one thing you must learn about Vietnam - the food is amazing! I couldn’t tell you everything that we dined on, but I can tell you this – it wasn’t spider. A delicious lunch later and we were off for a paddle down some of the local waterways in another tiny boat...to complete the whole experience we donned the traditional inverted cone hats. (The Vietnamese must have different shaped heads then Canadians!) I am sure we looked like idiots but I felt like a princess.

Our final boat ride took us past a truly unique site, the home of the Coconut Religion. Proving that crazy exists in all parts of the world, here is the home of an unusual group of devote believers...in the coconut. Dao Dua, or the Coconut Monk as he is commonly referred, resides on an island in the Mekong Delta in a sort of abandoned looking amusement park decorated with various religious icons. He continues to invite many world and religious leaders to his floating pagoda home, in the name of finding world peace. He and his people survive solely on coconuts. As you can imagine, this kind of free thought is not embraced in a semi-communist society...it is tolerated...sort of...as long as the Coconut Monk remains on his island. Visitors are welcome but people don't seem to be flocking to the area...there’s still more than Euro Disney at least.

Kam ung for reading...

3 comments:

  1. Love....love reading about your travels..makes me want to hop a plane and join you...the pictures are fantastic! Keep it coming!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wonder what would happen if you gave a coconut person meat.. probably a bowel obstruction. I like coconuts, but that's just nutty.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That coconut stuff looks absolutely AMAZING! I am dying to know if coconut candy is nearly as good as coconut ice cream? When does this trip end? It seems like you have been on it for a VERY long time? Did you quit working?

    Your photos and trip are absolutely amazing. I love reading your blog...so keep it coming!
    Julie

    ReplyDelete