businesstraveller.asia JUNE 2016
Time out in...VietnamI 71small boat for a dawn visit to Chau Doc’s own floating
market – every Delta village has one, of course. My
guide, a softly spoken ex-teacher, well educated and
highly knowledgeable about his hometown, says
proudly,“You know, we have Cham Muslims, Khmers,
Buddhist and Christian Vietnamese, such a mix of
peoples in Chau Doc, but we live harmoniously here,
never any conflict.”Perhaps they’ve experienced
enough terror and pain, and realised the futility of
racial or religious conflict.
Our boatman takes us to see Chau Doc’s famous
floating houses. Built on a platform of empty oil
drums, what’s unusual about them is in fact what’s
underneath, for suspended below in the muddy
Mekong water are huge wire fish cages where
hundreds upon hundreds of catfish are farmed. The
family feed them through a trapdoor in the middle of
the living room floor, and once the fish are around one
kilo in size, they harvest them, laying their gutted and
filleted carcasses out in rows under the sun to dry.
There are many holy sites to visit in the Chau Doc
area, from mosques to churches, temples and pagodas,
but the most impressive is the Temple of Lady Xu, six
kilometres west of town at the bottom of the hill I saw
as I arrived in Chau Doc, which in fact is ambitiously
named Sam Mountain.
It’s hardly surprising that in a land that is virtually all
low-lying floodplain, a 260-metre prominence would
be given reverential status. Sam Mountain is home to a
host of temples, pagodas and cave retreats, many with
their own legends and stories. At its base, the Temple
of Lady Xu features a kaleidoscope of colourful paint,
candlelight and neon gaudiness; it’s a major pilgrimage
site for both Chinese and Vietnamese families, who
bring whole roasted
pigs to offer in exchange
for the Lady’s grace.
My last stop is at the
top of the mountain,
from where the
inspiring 360-degree
view gives me another
perspective of how the
Mekong dictates every
aspect of life here. Huge tracts of land are under water,
while the curving waterways and arrow-straight man-
made canals stretch off into the hazy distance, their
banks lined by stilted houses, ubiquitous tethered
boats alongside.
To the west more hills mark the border with
Cambodia and the edge of the floodplain. From there
on, life is intrinsically different, governed by other
natural phenomena and populated by equally different
cultures. The Mekong Delta is a world unto itself, exotic
in almost every sense, imbued with sights, sounds and
scents that all evoke its inextricable link to the Mother
of Rivers.Qpowerful current. Huge wooden vessels ply the main
channel, built in the same fashion as the smaller
Mekong craft, but large enough to travel the ocean,
carrying massive loads of rice and vegetables out... and
bikes, cars and electronics in. Fish-processing factories
dot the shoreline, but as the river narrows – at Can Tho
it is more than a kilometre wide – the view becomes
purely rural, with Chinese-style cantilevered fishing
nets perched on the riverbanks, and hamlets straddling
countless side canals that snake their way into the flat
land beyond.
Finally I see a hill ahead – my first in days – and at
the confluence of the Bassac with a 200-metre-wide
waterway that links it to the Tien Giang, the mighty
Mekong’s Upper River, we pull in at the Victoria Chau
Doc Hotel, where I am met by a member of staff
dressed in a beautifulao dai, who presents me with a
chilled mixed-fruit cocktail that first caresses my throat
sensuously, then explodes with refreshing zest.
What a superlative welcome, and I continue to
be impressed once in my room, with its sweeping,
180-degree balcony view of river life below.You would
never imagine that in this small but vibrant backwater
town you could find such rich, decadent luxury,
with poolside cocktails andhaute cuisineavailable in
authentic colonial splendour.
Chau Doc and its surroundings have plenty to
offer besides a wonderfully re-created hotel. I board a
Sam Mountain is home
to a host of temples,
pagodas and cave
retreats, many with their
own legends and stories