Mekong River

After we toured the tunnels we went on to the Mekong Delta.  We actually got onto a boat and wandered via the Mekong River.

We went to a small river island near the city of My Tho.  It was a great way to wander through a local village without being too intrusive.

The village was what I expected it to be.  Lots of tropical plants and trees with small homes.  The people get around primarily by bicycle or walking but there were a few cars on the island.

One of the really interesting things to see when driving through the country are the cemeteries.  The primary religion in Vietnam is Buddhism which believes in reincarnation.  So when you are buried in Vietnam you are put into a grave in the ground.  However, most of the graves have beautiful covers on them and are made from brightly colored tiles.  I wish I could have gotten pictures of the larger cemeteries but it just wasn't possible.

The picture above is one that we walked past on the island.  If you double-click on the picture to make it bigger you can see the green tiled boxes where the caskets would be located.  There were three people buried within this one and there were three other covered areas preparing for the next family members to be buried.

We ended the tour by traveling down one of the canals.  These tiny women (couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall each) were rowing the boats.  They were amazing strong and the boats moved quite fast.