A day on the Mekong

Several of the students from the MS class ask to take us for a tour of the Mekong Delta on Sunday. It is amazing. We start at 6:30 a.m. with a drive through rice paddy fields, lush with greenery, topiary gazebos, and cultivated bonsai. There are periodic raised vaults with ornate carvings -- one here, two there, right in the middle of the rice paddies. We're told they ask to be buried in their fields, and apparently are. We stop for breakfast at a display of ancient homes, wild orchids and lotus blossoms filling the air. On to a river cruise on a junket -- it lists to the right pretty seriously. I gauge the distance to shore and figure I could make it, so I just go with it.

The Mekong is one of the largest rivers in the world, rivaling the Nile and the Amazon. We turn into what looks like a wall of reeds, and travel even deeper into the jungle. We dock, and follow a dirt path to a small shop for honey tea and coconut. Both are delicious, and we buy some, hoping it makes it past customs. There we board a horse wagon to our next destination. This is the only low part of the trip -- as we plod along, our driver tells the student in my cart that the horse is slow because he is sick. I am distraught -- many of you know my commitment to the humane treatment of animals. I ask to be let out of the cart to walk, but the student is adamant that I cannot. By the time I have convinced him I am ready to jump over the side while we are moving, we have arrived. I ask the horse for forgiveness and rub his nose. I feel awful about this part.

We are taken to a small jungle cafe where we're served fruit (don't ask me what -- I know some of it was mango, but the rest is an adventure) and treated to local musicians. Finally, onto a rowboat and paddling through the reeds. I am in front and so have to paddle, but I enjoy it; it's much like canoeing the rivers in Missouri except it's a jungle and there are things in the water that can eat you. We arrive safely back at the junket, onboard, listing to the right, slowly making our way back.

On the way back to the hotel, we stop at a pagoda and enormous Buddha. The students have been over-the-top hospitable. They fill our bowls, help us hold the chopsticks, even clean our utensils before we use them. They buy us gifts -- photos and bags and candy. I have to fend one off paying for a t-shirt purchase by swearing to her it is for my dad and I want to pay for it myself. We end the night with dinner out, with more queenly treatment, cards, and speeches. This is amazing graciousness, unexpected and quite endearing. I will miss them.

A long day, though, and the heat and humidity has turned me into a bedraggled pup. A shower and sleep await; pick up time tomorrow at 7:00. Stay tuned.

Sent from my iPad