The last days of summer

Molly Ellison
Jul 18, 2016
2 min read

Over the past few days, my dad and I decided to get out of hectic Saigon to see the sights of the South Vietnamese countryside. I started work today, exactly two months after I graduated from college, so my last official "summer break" has come to a close. On Friday, we traveled a few hours to a town on the Mekong Delta (dubbed "the Delta" by many) called My Tho. The Delta is a river network that stretches throughout the countryside, and My Tho is one of the closest cities in the region to HCMC. Naturally, this makes it riddled with tourists. Even so, it was fun to finally see what "the Delta" is all about.

The food is probably the most important thing to discuss. We went to the Delta with my dad's friend Nathan, who is Vietnamese, and he ordered for us at a riverside restaurant. We ate an array of locally caught seafood. The most unique dish we had was a mango salad with basil and dried fish that was very salty (pictured below). After lunch, we went on a boat tour and got sucked into the usual tourist attractions -- a bee farm, snake farm, etc. It was nice to get a brief taste of the Delta and I'm sure I'll explore the region further over the next year.

On Saturday, my dad and I hopped in the car with his friend Nathan to go to Mui Ne, a sleepy beach town. We took the coastal highway, which offered some beautiful views, yet added a few hours to the trip. On the way, we stopped at a restaurant in a small town for lunch. We ordered a dumpling soup that was wonderful and reminded me of wonton soup.

On the way to and from the coast, we drove past miles and miles of dragon fruit farms. I had my first run-in with dragon fruit at a hotel breakfast buffet in Siem Reap when I was 10 years old. I found the spiky magenta skin mesmerizing and loved fruit's the subtle sweetness. It's difficult to find the Southeast Asian staple in the U.S., so being surrounded by it on the way to Mui Ne was a dream.

Our hotel was a small beachside resort owned by a Vietnamese couple who had lived in the U.S. for about 30 years and retired to the region. It also wasn't located in Mui Ne, but rather a small town nearby called Phan Thiet. Honestly, it was a relief to not be surrounded by tour buses and an endless row of resorts. Our area was more secluded and relaxing -- the only people in either direction for at least a few kilometers were local fishermen. I'll just let the photos speak for the beauty of Phan Thiet.