We’re on the Mekong River, making our way toward the South China Sea, visiting Delta towns along the way. We crossed the Vietnam/Cambodia border at Tan Chau, stopped for a day at Sa Dec, and now we’re in Cai Be.
None of these Delta towns has what one would consider to be a giant tourist draw. If “Disneyland, Vietnam” is around here somewhere, I guess we missed it. These are working towns – homes to farmers and fishermen. But we’ve been getting a glimpse into a special part of the world that’s unlike anyplace I’ve experienced. I think it’s starting to grow on me.
Cruising Along in Cai Be
To get to our next destination in Cai Be, we re-boarded our 20-person boat and went back out into the choppy Mekong waters. We turned off the main river onto a smaller tributary. Judging by the level of activity on the waterfront, we were still in what I’d call “central Cai Be.”
All manner of businesses lined the shoreline. We even passed a waterfront casket maker’s shop. Caskets made to order right there on the premises. Just pull your boat up to their dock, load it up, and haul it away.
We turned off onto a much smaller waterway — more like a canal than a river. The scenery changed dramatically. It’s as if we had gone through a magic mirror, leaving the noisy, bustling river, and entering into a quiet tropical paradise. Everything around us was one shade of green or another. The only sound to be heard now was the chug, chug, chug of our own boat.
We had entered part of a place called Dong Hoa Hiep Village. But there was no village in sight. The “village” is a large, lush area that was developed in the 18th century. Expensive houses are hidden away here in orchards of mangos, oranges, grapefruit, and all of the exotic-looking fruit we’d seen in the market at Sa Dec.
The House of Mr. Tran Tuan Kiet
We’re on our way to visit one of these houses that has been restored. A certain Mr. Tran Tuan Kiet built it sometime around 1838. It isn’t what you’d expect to see in Vietnam. The house itself is a large, one-level structure. The architectural style reminded me of what I’d call a ranch house.
Terraces and the surrounding gardens are integrated nicely into the house. The area around the house is lush and beautiful. Every tree seemed to have some kind of fruit hanging down. This must have been THE place to be if you had a ton of money back in the day.
We left the Kiet House and chugged back quietly down the canal we came in on. When we reached the end of the canal, we went through the magic mirror again and crossed back into the real world.
Life in the Delta
Over the course of the past few days, we’ve gotten a taste of what life is like today in these Mekong Delta towns. If I had to characterize these Delta towns in just one word, the word I’d choose is “thriving.”
Everywhere we’d been in the Delta, people were hustling and bustling, but in an easy-going way. Everyone was busy, and everyone was friendly. The markets we saw were overflowing with produce and seafood. I know the standard of living here is low, but still, people seemed to be thriving. Not so long ago, that wasn’t the case. It’s hard to believe, but just thirty years ago, in the late eighties, thousands of people in this area were faced starvation.
In the mid-seventies, communists forces won the war and unified North and South Vietnam. The new leaders instituted policies and laws true to communist ideals. No more private property. Every aspect of life would be dictated by the government, i.e., “The Party.” It was the real deal.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that long ago, but in many ways, it was a different world back then. The new guys in charge were true believers. They had been schooled in the teachings of Marx and Lenin. They believed Marx and Lenin were onto something. (At the time, a lot of other people in Europe and Asia felt the same way). It might take a while, they thought, but implementation of their ideas would eventually result in the greatest good for the most people.
Changes in the Delta — Late 1970’s
Things started to go sideways early on. The effect on rice production here in the Mekong Delta is one example. This is the perfect place for growing rice. Delta farmers fed the whole region with rice left over to export by the boatload.
When the communist leadership took over, they replaced many individual farms with large-scale government collectives. Party personnel made all farming-related decisions and managed all aspects of production.
Central controllers set commodity prices as they saw fit, regardless of market forces. Unfortunately, they seemed to have a knack for setting commodity prices too high or too low. Timing was an issue. Gluts and shortages became the norm. Critical supplies such as fertilizer weren’t available when needed, but showed up in abundance when no longer useful.
The guys in charge hired peasants to work on the collectives, and gave them small plots of land for their own use. Unfortunately, most peasants tended to work as little as they could get away with on the big collectives. (They took good care of their own plots, though).
As one might imagine, rice production in the Delta dropped dramatically. It got so bad that in 1979, the government had to import rice to prevent starvation of its own population. All that sounds bad – and it was — but there’s actually a bright side.
To be continued…
