{"id":3106,"date":"2012-09-23T23:49:06","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T04:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=3106"},"modified":"2012-09-23T23:49:06","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T04:49:06","slug":"floating-on-the-mekong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=3106","title":{"rendered":"Floating on the Mekong."},"content":{"rendered":"

Days like yesterday are rare and always inspire me.\u00a0 It is unbelievable how many \u201clife moments\u201d can happen within the span of a day, not to mention how much exotic fruit a person can eat.\u00a0 I could write a novella about yesterday, but I will refrain, seeing as there would really be no climax to the story (the entire day was climactic) \u00a0or conflict other than my literature paper due Monday, which isn\u2019t as interesting.\u00a0 Now please join me while I continue to procrastinate that paper while I write about Loyola\u2019s journey to 10\u00b010\u2032N 106\u00b00\u2032E.<\/p>\n

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It is common to see banana trees growing in the Mekong. These are ripe and ready to go!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you Google 10\u00b010\u2032N 106\u00b00\u2032E you will find V\u0129nh Long Province located in the Mekong River Delta of southern Vietnam.\u00a0 Many local Vietnamese people travel by boat because many locations are easily accessible by water, especially during the rainy season when pathways become muddy or flooded.\u00a0 The soil along the banks is ideal for growing many exotic and traditional fruits such as: banana, mangosteen, durian, rambutan, pomelo, and watermelon.\u00a0 The people also make bricks from river clay, sell prawn and catfish, as well as open their homes to travelers.<\/p>\n

The Vietnamese roommates were invited to join the trip to the delta.\u00a0 We were bug spray ready at 8am.\u00a0 I sat by Neg, a senior sociology major, on the two hour bus ride.\u00a0 We talked about being a young adult in Vietnam, family, and music while we snacked on milk cream filled crackers.\u00a0 I am good friends with Neg already. \u00a0I appreciate her sarcastic personality which compliments my own and her love for American movies, which range anywhere from Finding Nemo<\/em> to Ocean\u2019s 11<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Half of our day was spent on the water. Traveling from one destination to the next. I have never traveled on a river with such a strong current.\u00a0 The current is faster in the south of Vietnam, especially during the rainy season.\u00a0 The scenery was a constant view tropical trees and houses.\u00a0 It looked exceptionally beautiful in the rain.\u00a0 Many children came out to wave to our boat, shouting \u201cHello, nice meet you to!\u201d\u00a0 It was nice to meet and wave to them as well.<\/p>\n

The \u201clife moments\u201d I spoke of earlier are moments in which time and troubles don\u2019t matter.\u00a0 They are moments of firsts or moments of joy or moments of learning.\u00a0 Here are my life moments from the Mekong Delta:<\/p>\n

#1: Walking through Vinh Long Market. Many live animals and fruit are sold here. Some animals include: chicks, snakes, birds, lizards, etc.<\/p>\n

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#2: Visiting the brick factory. The kilns looked like giant coconuts, and the bricks themselves were fiery red. They clay to make the bricks comes from the delta itself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

#3: Eating lunch at a local home. Menu included elephant ear fish roll with rice paper, veggie and noodles, spring roll, shrimp, and rice noodle soup.\u00a0 I still remember everyone saying \u201cWe are going to eat an elephant ear?!\u201d\u00a0 It is essentially a lettuce wrap.<\/p>\n

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Many fish dishes in Vietnam require you to remove the meat with chopsticks!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

#4:<\/strong> Hiking and biking through the community was by far the best experience I have had so far in Vietnam.\u00a0 I saw numerous plants, animals, and local homes.\"\"<\/p>\n

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#5:Rowing down the river with a local guide.\u00a0 I even wore a straw conical hat for the first time! It is a true symbol of Vietnam.<\/p>\n

#6: Quan\u2019s Shirts<\/p>\n

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Shirt #1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Shirt #2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

#7: Cooking spring roll\u2019s with our home stay family.<\/p>\n

\u0010#8: Visiting a local floating market.\u00a0 This market will only sell exclusively to the locals.<\/p>\n

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#9: Standing on a bridge with friends at sunset, overlooking the river.<\/p>\n

#10: Enjoying a lovely cup of Vietnamese drip coffee, served with condensed milk (of course!) for breakfast.<\/p>\n

Ten moments seem like the perfect amount to share! For more Mekong photos check out the Flikr slide show. My paper awaits!<\/p>\n

Xin Chao!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days like yesterday are rare and always inspire me.\u00a0 It is unbelievable how many \u201clife moments\u201d can happen within the span of a day, not to mention how much exotic fruit a person can eat.\u00a0 I could write a novella about yesterday, but I will refrain, seeing as there would really be no climax to … <\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}