23 March 2007
22 March 2007
From Alice in Ho Chi Min City
It's our last day in Viet Nam now and then we're off to Singapore for two days then to India. Well I have to say, Viet Nam has been good and fun, but not as good as Thailand. It has been hard to get stuff to do with interviewing and filming, but in the end it has been nice just seeing this different country. My highlight was going on the Mekong river on a boat trip. The scenery that we saw from the boat was really interesting, I noticed that there was a lot of erosion happening along the banks, but it was good to see that people had planted trees, built brick walls and placed sandbags along the bank to try and prevent this from occurring.
From Lena in Ho Chi Min City
After Thailand we all knew that Viet Nam would be hard in comparison because we didn't have as many connections or any set itinerary. Even though we didn't meet as many good people to interview and film, it was still worthwhile to come here.
The last couple of days we spent further south of Ho Chi Min City, formerly Saigon, in the Mekong Delta area. I liked it heaps cos it wasn't as hot and humid and even if it was, we usually had a breeze to cool down. We had a guide and driver and it was basically like in Hue, just taking our chances when meeting farmers.
Dad especially had to work real hard to get the right sort of information out of people. We noticed that although a lot of farmers were noticing changes in terms of hotter weather, we didn't meet anyone who was doing anything about it. Yesterday, our last day there, we talked with a guy who grew fruit trees along with his mother.
His mother said it was hard for farmers to find solutions to their problems because whenever they went to the government with their problems, the government people wouldn't listen to them. So the farmers don't go to the government anymore and nothing is really done about the problems they are experiencing.
The last couple of days we spent further south of Ho Chi Min City, formerly Saigon, in the Mekong Delta area. I liked it heaps cos it wasn't as hot and humid and even if it was, we usually had a breeze to cool down. We had a guide and driver and it was basically like in Hue, just taking our chances when meeting farmers.
Dad especially had to work real hard to get the right sort of information out of people. We noticed that although a lot of farmers were noticing changes in terms of hotter weather, we didn't meet anyone who was doing anything about it. Yesterday, our last day there, we talked with a guy who grew fruit trees along with his mother.
His mother said it was hard for farmers to find solutions to their problems because whenever they went to the government with their problems, the government people wouldn't listen to them. So the farmers don't go to the government anymore and nothing is really done about the problems they are experiencing.
From Karen in Ho Chi Min City
Hi, back in Ho Chi Minh on our last day here, then we fly to Singapore for 2 days, then onto India to Nepal. We have had an interesting few days down on the Mekong Delta. The highlight was going on a boat ride on one of the "nine dragons" of the Mekong river and along one of the many canals. The local name for the Mekong is the "nine dragons" river, which refers to the nine branches that feed out from the Mekong river to create the delta.
It was interesting walking around on one of the islands and visiting a durian tree grower. We also saw a floating market, but were too late to see many of the smaller boats that would have been there very early in the morning. It was relaxing sitting by the Mekong in the evening in a hammock, drinking coconut milk , watching life go by, an endless assortment of boats and produce.
During our time in the delta we were able to film and take photos of the whole rice harvesting process from harvesting by hand, machine threshing, drying it out on large concrete pads, following the sacks of rice as they get put onto boats to go to the storage sheds and then trucked to the main cities. When we eat rice, I never realised there was so much work that goes into producing it.
Love to all Karen
It was interesting walking around on one of the islands and visiting a durian tree grower. We also saw a floating market, but were too late to see many of the smaller boats that would have been there very early in the morning. It was relaxing sitting by the Mekong in the evening in a hammock, drinking coconut milk , watching life go by, an endless assortment of boats and produce.
During our time in the delta we were able to film and take photos of the whole rice harvesting process from harvesting by hand, machine threshing, drying it out on large concrete pads, following the sacks of rice as they get put onto boats to go to the storage sheds and then trucked to the main cities. When we eat rice, I never realised there was so much work that goes into producing it.
Love to all Karen
21 March 2007
Viet Nam 21 March 2007
We hired a boat, with a boat driver and local guide, from the hotel. The plan was to travel through some of the canals, visit a durian tree farmer on one of the islands and then to a floating market before meeting up with our van.
For the first time in the Mekong I felt as though I could relax and enjoy myself. Karen and the girls all noticed the change in my energy as I became absorbed in filming, talking to the local guide and taking some photos. Driving through the Mekong delta had already caught my imagination… a region with a population of 18 million in 2000 and currently estimated to be 21 million by 2010. A place of people, rice, water, fruit farms, endless bridge crossings over the many canals and larger crossings over the “nine dragons”. Being on the water totally fascinated me.
We eventually came to a bank where we disembarked to visit the ‘wise’ durian grower. As it turned out this was a young businessman and his mother, the Sau Ri family (name of the father), who had converted from rice to durian production about seven years ago with the help of Thai technology and Australian aid. They were extremely nice people, growing durian trees for fruit as well as a large durian tree nursery on their 10 hectares of land.
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For the first time in the Mekong I felt as though I could relax and enjoy myself. Karen and the girls all noticed the change in my energy as I became absorbed in filming, talking to the local guide and taking some photos. Driving through the Mekong delta had already caught my imagination… a region with a population of 18 million in 2000 and currently estimated to be 21 million by 2010. A place of people, rice, water, fruit farms, endless bridge crossings over the many canals and larger crossings over the “nine dragons”. Being on the water totally fascinated me.
We eventually came to a bank where we disembarked to visit the ‘wise’ durian grower. As it turned out this was a young businessman and his mother, the Sau Ri family (name of the father), who had converted from rice to durian production about seven years ago with the help of Thai technology and Australian aid. They were extremely nice people, growing durian trees for fruit as well as a large durian tree nursery on their 10 hectares of land.
.jpg)
A happy durian tree grower
These people have clearly acted positively by diversifying away from rice to a very productive fruit crop. The mother talked about the many problems in the area, pollution of water from heavy chemical use, erosion problems from river boats, insect pests in the rice. She commented that the weather is more erratic than in the past, but they don’t have any major issues as durian growers.
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