Vietnam: 9~Lacquerware & a bus ride to Mekong

In a long mini bus we set off on a day trip to the Mekong Delta, which I was really looking forward to. Many of us keenly watched out the window with cameras poised… sooo like tourists, but to heck with it.

Accordingly, many of the pics in this post are quick snaps from the moving bus!

Before we left the city we stopped at a lacquerware factory. Danielle was very keen we do this, having been here a few years before. I hadn’t really heard of lacquer products before the trip and boy, I was really glad Dan organised the stop as it was fantastic.

The factory we went to, Cong-Ty 27-7 Handicapped Handicrafts, is run by the government and employs people who are victims of Agent Orange. They make the most exquisite items (wall art, platters, vases, jewellery boxes etc) that are decorated and then heavily lacquered.

We were shown through the factory and workshop area

After walking through the factory, this was quite a sight to behold. There were a couple of halls filled with rows and shelves of beautiful stuff

I was hugely impressed at the quality of everything. I’d already resigned myself to getting another suitcase so what the hey – a few more items to bring back. Today I have a beautiful vase and my parents have a photo frame from this place.

We continued our journey south. The bus had good air conditioning but it was still quite hard going. Long and bumpy. One of the group had a hangover and I’m not sure how he managed to survive the trip. Probably the finest achievement of the day!

The guide described that many Vietnamese do not use banks and it is common to buy these little units of gold

Plenty of congestion down on the duck farm

We had a lunch stop at a restaurant near the river, very nice place and we ate some interesting things. Though I gave the baby squid/octopus salad a miss. (I really am not adventurous with food.) The hungover person among us possibly did too…

Freaky looking but yum

From here it wasn’t far to where our journey stopped and we began our experience on the Mekong Delta.

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This is part of a series recounting my July 2009 trip to Vietnam.