Revision of an earlier post
The Mekong River delta covers a large portion of southwestern Vietnam from the Cambodian border to the South China Sea.
Daily life revolves around the Mekong and many villages are accessible only by water. People live on or over the river and their days revolve around growing, buying, or selling rice, fruits, and vegetables, or fish.
Generations of families are born, live and die on the Mekong’s waters. Some in boats and many in little shacks set on spindly pilings.
“Life is like that.” papa turned once again to the Mekong. “Everything is connected, and sometimes we, like little fishes, are swept up in these big and powerful currents. Carried far from home…”
___Author: Vaddey Ratner
“No matter the border, the Mekong has been an indiscriminate giver and taker of life in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. It’s a paradox like civilization’s other great rivers—be it the Nile, Indus, Euphrates, Ganges or China’s Sorrow the Huang He—for without its water’s life is a daily struggle for survival; yet with its waters life is a daily bet that natural disasters and diseases will visit someone else’s village because it’s not if, but when it’s going to happen that’s the relevant question.”
___ Tucker Elliot,The Rainy Season
Click here for more Vietnam posts. And thank you.