Mellowing out in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam
TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 02/20/2017 08:45 GMT + 7
Editor’s note: LeiChandra Truong is a Vietnamese American who spent two years living in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. She submitted this story to Tuoi Tre News from the San Francisco Bay Area, where she now lives.
On the peaks of the Himalayan Mountains, springtime warmth melts abodes of snow, sending icy water on its 4,500 kilometer journey south, to the Mekong Delta, known as Mien Tay or the southwestern region of Vietnam.
The water brings an abundance of growth, so much so that it’s overflowing with locals set to reap its benefits.
Sitting on a rickety wooden motorboat, my friend Nancy and I playfully splashed water on each other, mesmerized by the vast expanse of green foliage on this riverway, verdant trees shading the path, and floating lotus lily pads resting on the water’s surface. It was like entering a different world, where life moves slower.
It was nice for both of us to escape the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City.
My friend was working for a seafood export company and brought me along to the city of Long Xuyen for a few days. Though my visit to the Mekong back in 2011 was short, the place, people and culture still hold a warm place in my heart.
After our boat trip, Nancy introduced me to some of her friends. They are a generation older than us and I was shocked that I could address them as anh and chi (brother and sister) even though it’s not socially or culturally correct.
They wanted to place importance on the friendship and not the typical hierarchy of seniority inherent in Vietnamese culture. Without a doubt, my new friends were the coolest people ever.
continue reading here
http://tuoitrenews.vn/city-diary/396...lta-in-vietnam