grand voyage W


e call it vomit fruit,” says my guide Thang, as he hands me a piece of slippery,


lemon-coloured flesh that looks like an anaemic mango and smells like a spring onion. “You’ll either love it or hate it.” I’m pleasantly surprised. To me it


tastes sweet and juicy, like a Tutti Frutti with the texture of a dried-up peach, and I’m soon going in for a second helping of durian, southeast Asia’s most controversial fruit – so pungent it’s banned from hotels. Others in the group are less keen, claiming it tastes like sick. I capitalise and take their portions.


LOCAL DELICACIES


I’m at a farm in My An Hung, a rural village on the Mekong Delta, sampling freshly picked produce – white, fleshy


coconuts, sweet, fragrant jackfruit and ripe, juicy mango – in the company of a local family as we wander the verdant, palm-shaded gardens. Soon we’re tucking into the aptly


named ‘snakehead fish’ – a huge, leather-skinned creature, impaled by a bamboo stick and cooked on a mound of burnt, blackened straw before it’s hacked apart and wrapped in rice paper to make a fresh spring roll. Like the durian, it’s surprisingly good, albeit with a face that does appear rather snake-like. Afterwards, we’re treated to


performances of Vovinam, a Vietnamese martial art that has children from the local village bounding around in front of us with impressive dexterity, and Don Ca Tai Tu, a type of Vietnamese folk music performed in nasal tones by


a young boy and his father, with the twang of a Vietnamese guitar. It feels like a real, authentic experience


and gives us an intriguing glimpse into the heritage of this remote, culture-rich region that I’m lucky enough to be exploring on a Mekong voyage with family-run Vietnamese line Lotus Cruises.


RURAL LIFE


It’s just one of many memorable experiences I have on the four-day trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, disembarking along the way to explore narrow, rippling waterways on traditional wooden sampan boats. In Cai Be, a small rural town and


the first excursion on the cruise, we browse a floating market. Colourful boats with intimidating eyes painted


travelweekly.co.uk/cruise


May 2022 21


¬


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48