February 6, 2018 A Taste of the Mekong (part IV in a series)

The Liberty Gazette

February 6, 2018

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Nearly fifty years after the Vietnam War, mangrove and coconut palm trees still grow and the Mekong still provides for the hard working people.

The next stop on our private tour is a coconut plantation. Balancing on the boat’s bow, I grab the ladder. A bamboo retaining wall extends from the water to a level landing above. During wet season, the ladder is unnecessary, but it’s dry and we have to climb.

On top, our guide, Vi, explains process and purpose as workers bust open the outer husks and strip out the hard-shelled centers. “A strong worker can remove 2,000 coconut husks a day. They shred and spin it into twine to make garden mats. These coconut palm leaves will make roof thatch and brooms.” We walk through the plantation amid sweat and swinging arms. There will be no waste.

Vi leads us down a mud trail. We tight-rope atop palm tree trunks over irrigation ditches to get to the plantation owners’ home. She wants us to meet the friendly, entrepreneurial family. The patriarch welcomes us from his hammock strung across the front porch of the traditional wooden house. Their plantation provides jobs and raw material for the broom factory we will tour. A motorcycle-rickshaw called a “tuk tuk,” takes us there.

Linda: We step into the open concrete building, a roof for shade and only two walls, allowing ventilation from husk dust. Women sit on the floor, crafting up to two hundred brooms per day by hand. Their smiles are warm and genuine. They’re happy that people come to see how they make a living. If they work fast, they’ll earn two dollars a day. Though materially poor, they have pride. Some bring their children with them; we see babies on mats and school-aged children playing tag. The kids giggle when they hear foreigners talk. The brooms wholesale locally for fifty cents, retail thirty dollars in the States. Tour tips help the workers afford food.

We’ll have more food than we can eat on this tour. Americans have a reputation, so the agenda includes a snack stop at Tám Nhu Garden. The 82-year old master gardener serves us a sumptuous variety of fruits on his gazebo—melons, bananas, and citrus. He loves his Jackfruit, the special treat of the region. We’ve never seen so vast and lush a garden.

Not far from this botanical wonderland we step gingerly into a sampan. Our captain paddles the narrow boat through gentle currents in winding water under a canopy of coconut trees in a cinematic experience. When this quiet fork of the Mekong merges with the main river, we transfer to a power boat. We’re expected for lunch at an exclusive riverside restaurant.

Under a thatched roof, on the patio on stilts, they bring dish after dish, at least ten courses. We want to be gracious. But we want them to take all these leftovers to the broom factory.

We’ll take Võ Văn Kiệt Avenue back to Saigon. The avenue runs along the Tofu channel. Vi grins. Being vegan, we should like that name. But we’re full.

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