Writings From Around The World: Viet!

Good morning Vietnam!

We arrived in Chau Doc, Vietnam by speedboat from Phnom Penh Cambodia two days ago. It took four hours, five including immigration stops (as we exited Cambodia and Entered Vietnam). They checked a few of our bags through an x-ray machine and the customs man didn’t know what my contact lenses were. He kept on turning the bag over and over trying to figure out what they were. Luckily, our boat driver was able to explain, by gesticulating that they went in my eyes. It was highly enjoyable to watch. My Mom had some Cambodian money that she changed there for Vietnamese Dong. She got 46 dong from the lady, which is about ___ cents or of a cent. One dollar is 21,000 dong which is an absurd currency exchange. My mom and sister went out to dinner, had two drinks and two main courses and it cost them 434,000 dong. That is $6.23 cents!

Vietnam has many rivers and canals, especially in the southern area near Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Many people live and work on their boats selling fruits and vegetables or transporting goods like rice. One job, is fish farming. People on the Mekong river have a very interesting way of catching fish. They will put an entire house on top of an underwater frame covered in mesh which will hold 50,000 fish. Most people have three frames, which in total contain 150,000 fish (which is also 200 tones). It cost $10 per kilo, 50 fish per kilo. It takes three months to grow the fish up and they do this three times a year. Gross sales are about $50,000 plus per harvest. The fish are fed three meals a day, just like us, and there are so many in a cage that you can put your hand into the water while they’re excited from eating, and scoop them up three at a time. They also nibble your hands which tickles. When the fish are fully grown, a boat will use a pump and pipe to suck out all the fish and transport them to fish factories. Transport boats are wooden and bulbous, but the interesting feature is that there are small holes, covered in screens, on both sides of the boat where water can flow in and out for the fish to survive until they reach the factory. Most people, if they have a large enough boat, will live on that boat in a small shack overhanging the water at the back of the boat. All possessions are kept very neat and organized because theres limited space. Most people sleep in hammocks and laundry is hung at the back of the boat to dry. Some of the boats even have potted plants to create a little garden on the roof. Large boats shuttle sand, gravel and rice between different locations on the river. People with smaller boats usually have a shack on the side of the river with a little dock where they can tie up their boat. These boats usually sell food like coconuts, bananas, sweet potatoes etc.

These are how thick the fish become when fed!

This is a fish cage frame from a distance.

Near the bank there is a floating market where boats will sell one product and other smaller boats can come around and buy it. These boats will display what they sell by putting up a bamboo pole high above their vessel, and tie on their goods as an advertisement.