A deep(er) venture into the rural Mekong

Life on the river

The Mekong River and its nine branches provide the Mekong Delta and cities such as Can Tho with a distinctive image. Running from the Tibetan Plateau through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, the Mekong River represents one of the longest rivers in the world. Within the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, it extends its reach of influence through nine separate branches.

One of the most popular attractions in Can Tho is the floating market, and we set out at 0-dark Thirty to experience it first hand.

The market represents an opportunity for wholesale exchange of fruits and it is populated by boats of all shapes and sizes. But I get ahead of myself in the story.









First, a few observations about the river. Then, more on the market

In the United States, riverfront property would be, in almost all cases, prime real estate, and developers would be scrambling to seize such opportunities for both commercial and residential markets.

Some of this is going on in Vietnam but what remains remarkable about observing the riverfront is that it is generally not the location for million dollar homes. 

 In general, families living along the river use the river for cooking, cleaning, bathing, and washing clothes.

Houses are often on stilts because of the rising and falling tides, and the variable changes in the level of the river.

These homes are often interspersed with more commercial venues, such as loading and unloading sand and gravel, gas stations for the boats on the river, lumber for building, and so on.

Life seems hard for much of the population in Vietnam, especially in the rural areas. But here in the thick of the city, the river illuminates yet another segment of the population working hard to get through each day.

Another feature of river life is the threatening prospects of climate change. Rising sea levels will have disastrous effects for much of the Mekong Dela, as the salinity from the sea water will raise havoc with plant and fish life that cannot tolerate these conditions.

In addition, urban areas like Can Tho will be inundated with waters from surrounding rivers and canals. To combat such effects, government is building this retaining wall to help keep such rising levels at bay.


So, back to the floating market. We are excited to be up this early to take part in this neat experience.

We learned that the pilots of these tour boats play games with the local authority, slowing down at points of monitoring and telling everyone to sleep on their life jackets, and then a little layer saying it is okay now to take them off. 

This is a "real" floating market, as opposed to more tourist oriented floating markets that have sprung up in other parts of Southeast Asia, such as in Thailand.

Here, wholesalers who have purchased large quantities of fruit from farmers (often their entire crop) transport the products by boats to the floating market, where they then sell in bulk to retailers and other wholesalers.


There seems like an implicit level of cooperation among those driving these watercraft, as boats bump into and use each other to propel and navigate their way through this maize.


As you approach the market it seems like a river channel clogged with boat traffic and no one going anywhere. In fact, it resembles more of a busy beehive, with the larger boats remaining stationary but smaller boats running in and out and circling around about.

The market also seems to be divided into sections, such as pineapple, watermelon, durian, etc. Our tour guide said that, at times these markets can stretch for one to two kilometers up river.

As I suggested, the floating market is a wholesaler, bulk operation. But there are spaces in and along the market where consumers (read, "tourists" can sample the fruits made available through the market.

We were approached at one point by a cafe boat offering to make a number of different coffee drinks. 

Missing breakfast because we got up so early, a number of our delegation decided to partake of the variety of fruits available - somebody forgot the wet whipes :-)

The Mekong Delta - Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore.

 After a quick 50 minute flight from Nha Trang, we land in Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of almost 10,000 million. But waiting for us outside the airport is Mr. Bi, our tour guide, and our faithful bus. This bus, Bi explains, is only two days old and purchased just for us - the first of his many tongue-in-cheek comments we will experience from him over the coming days.  But this bus, unlike the others which were designed to transport whole communities, seems fitted to the size of our group. It is smaller, yet has plenty of room for our luggage (a problem in past tours) and lots of leg room. As one member put it, "it has that new car smell to it."

After the plane ride from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City and a four hour bus ride from there to Can Tho, we arrive at our hotel, the Hau Giang Hotel in downtown Can Tho. Needless to say we are tired and more than a bit disoriented but in good spirits, as we await assignments of our rooms. Our hotels, have been quite comfortable and I think everyone is pleased with their accommodations on this trip.

  

 Check in was followed by a late night dinner, premised on the assumption that we hadn't eaten since our "brunch" at 10:30 earlier that day. I suspect most would have been happy with something lighter and lesser in amount. Still, the food was great.

I certainly was tired and could feel myself nodding off during dinner. Time to call it a day!

 The next morning we headed out to Hoa An village, about one hour south (mostly) from Can Tho. Our goal on this trip was to meet with some of the teachers that were involved in Chris Wheeler's project with Can Tho. Chris' project stands out as a wonderful example of what can be done with a sense of vision, a small amount of funding, and committed staff.

On the way we picked up Lan, a former doctoral student in higher and adult education at MSU and my former graduate assistant. She now works as Associate Dean of the Graduate School at CTU. We also picked up Dr. Hong, who was the director of Chris' project at CTU. Retired now, she still retains the energy and enthusiasm of someone much younger. She provided valuable background on the project to our students.

While an incredibly engaging experience, the study tour does take its toll and sometimes you just have to rest when you can. The heat, the transitions, and the almost constant engagement forces us to create space in our lives here to "re-charge."

The principal of the middle school with which Chris worked and five of the teachers in the project responded to our invitation to meet and talk with our students about the project. Dr. Hong helped facilitate this discussion and we learned about the project's aims, purposes, scope, and challenges.

The students were still in session while were there and so we had another opportunity to drop in to a class, say hi, and answer a few questions, like how old are you and what is the weather like in Michigan. All good stuff.

The process, though, sometimes makes one feel like a member of a line-up in Usual Suspects. 




Vietnamese students love to have their picture taken with us! In leaving locations with students, we had to build in an extra 10-15 minutes to say good-bye via group photos.

In the afternoon, we met with several staff the Director, Vice-Director, and several staff members of the Can Tho Department of Education. This meeting proved to stimulate discussion within our group regarding a number of issues related to norms of interaction, the role of language in mediating interaction and communication, and reform efforts in which they are engaged. This department plays an active role in monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in the schools, visiting schools within their area at least once a year. We ended up inviting them to dinner with us and they to lunch with them the next day. What an enjoyable experience being able to tak with educators at this policy level.

On Friday (May 23), we visit the Lurong The Vinh Middle School. This is the middle school that Lan's son attends and I think she attended as well as a child.

After brief introductions, we were escorted to a classroom where we were able to observe an hour-long lesson in English. Students seem to spontaneously pair up with us and strike up a conversation as we walked to the classroom. I was impressed with their fluency.

We observed a sixth grade classroom taught by Ms. Tran Thi Anh Trang. There were approximately 35 students in the class, all dressed in blue slacks or skirts and white shirts or blouses, with red ties around their necks.

She began the class with what appeared to be a review assignment, using some kind of "words working together" game. She was using what I later found out was an interactive white board but was operating it through a laptop. Much of the interaction was between teacher and student mediated by a kind of call and response. At some points the students worked in pairs on their assigned tasks.

The room was noisy much of the time, largely due to the noise coming from outside the classroom. With open windows and doors, it is difficult to control this level of noise.

The lesson proceeded smoothly and orderly, however, with intermittent use of games, which the students seem to greatly enjoy. At one point, they used a game that made use of two teams, and the teacher had them use a version of "rock, paper, scisso"' to determine which team went first. Their use of English was impressive!

The lesson ended with a review of the key principles that were covered in the lesson and an assignment of homework.

Following the class we met with teachers and students to talk about their experiences in school, and to give them an opportunity to ask us questions.  The kids in this discussion sounded like they wer 14 going on 35! It was amazing how articulate and expressive they were, and not afraid of taking a position, sometimes in opposition to their peers.



Overlooking the discussion was a picture of Ho Chi Minh, looking quite scholarly.

In the afternoon, we met Lan on the campus of Can Tho University, and she gave us an overview of CTU, which was quite helpful. She also clarified the various kinds of universities that were in Vietnam, ranging from the provincial to the national, and how they differed based no this ranking.

Then our students paired up with grad students from CTU and spent the afternoon exploring what life was like for them, as well as talking about life in an American university. These grad students, as Lan told us later, are not full-time students. Most of them hold responsible positions in education or the private sector.

In arranging this photo-op of the three of us, I was delighted to see that Todd got the memo about dress. We call it our "study tour guide leader" uniform.

And next to Lan, we both look like we're from the land of giants.

Nha Trang - Died and gone to heaven!

 Sunrise in Nha Trang!

 One of the views out my hotel room window. This place is breathtaking!

Nha Trang is one of the most beautiful locations in Vietnam and perhaps in this part of the world. The view from the hotel and even at street level is phenomenal. Lots of people are making this a permanent vacation spot. Someone told us that Russians make up 70% of the tourists. Indeed, many of the stores have signs and menus in Russian, and there is a direct flight from Moscow to Nha Trang.
 


As in Hanoi and Hue, many residents rise very early to engage in exercise. The local beaches and parks here are filled with people participating in various forms of activity. Tai chi, zumba, stretching, badminton, hackey-sack, swimming, running, walking. It is quite the scene.

We again had the opportunity to visit with students at the University of Nha Trang. We spent.

I continue to be surprised with their interest in and excitement about our lives and where we are from, what we are doing in the country, why we would travel half-away around the world to visit them. 

  These student visits are a real treat for us as well, on many levels.

Lunch overlooking the sea.

Downtown Nha Trag from across the bay. 

Scenes like this can't help but pull you off into another state of being. How can you not be calm when surrounded by beauty like this?

Todd and I venture out, following the advice of A Lonely Planet and being assertive with a reluctant taxi driver to get us to this place instead of that of his buddies.

My first BBQ at the table - now which utensils did we use to put the uncooked meat on the grill and which ones do we use to take it off? And who is keeping track, especially after a couple Huda beers?

 Walking back from our BBQ dinner (not wanting to take yet another gamble on the taxi driver knowing where we want to go), we came upon this lovely sight.

Reminded me of my brother Casey and his work with fountains. He would appreciate this.

Nha Trang has pulled out all stops to make their downtown area an incredibly attractive and aesthetically pleasing place to be.

Our meeting with representatives from the University of Nha Trang proved to be a kind of mini doctoral seminar. This university overlooks the sea on what has to be one of the most expensive pieces of property in the area. The environment seems to kindle an intellectual curiosity that was refreshing to see and hear.

Taking refuge from the heat and sun, our group finds small relief beneath the shade of a tree at the Cham pagoda, as we listen to our tour guide provide a brief history of the Cham people.  TThe Cham kingdom was located in the central and southern parts of what is now Vietnam and lasted from approximately the 7th century through to 1832. It was then annexed by Vietnam.

This pagoda is an amazing place. Built to honor and worship the Hindu gods and goddesses, it is actually made up of five pagodas.

On the day of our visit, it was a relatively quiet and peaceful place but during the festival period it can be quite colorful and busy place.

A limited wikipedia entry can provide you more background on this fascinating culture.

On our last full day in Nha Trang, we took a break from our academic work to the islands in and around Nha Trang (Mun Island, Mot Island, Tam Island). 

The beaches on these islands draw folks from th mainland for fun and sun - a lot of sun!

Our bubble bus - taking us from point a to point b, and providing additional relief from the zapping heat. We call it the bubble because it can literally close us off from the surrounding culture and people. We have to work at crossing its boundaries

So we say a reluctant good-bye to beautiful Nha Trang and head to the airport, where we await a Vietjet flight to Ho Chi Min City and eventually Can Tho. Cam Ranh Airport in Nha Trang is a former U.S. airbase built by the air force during the Vietnam War. It began providing commercial surface in 2004. Our destination on this flight is served by yet another former air base, Ton Son Nhat, the largest airport in Vietnam. Originally developed by the French during their colonization of Vietnam as a primitive airfield, during the war it served both the U.S. and South Vietnamese air forces. If you look closely, you can still see remnants of the former powers within this region.

Vietjet is a relatively newcomer airline to the Vietnam air, providing service that is essentially comparable to Spirit and JetBlue in the U.S. While better than sitting in a bus for 12+ hours, we will miss the incredible views of the coastline that we only got a taste of on our way to the airport. Still, no one in the group seems to have regrets except me. A good decision and one that will give us more time for other adventures in this wonderful country.

On to Ho Chi Minh City and then Can Tho!