The Mekong Delta by Boat
Georgia Oetker, Client.
Guides make all of the difference and Mr Lan was brilliant. He immersed me in kindness and became more a friend than a guide. My boat trip on the Mekong Delta was a one-off and a highlight of my stay in Vietnam. As a former teacher Mr Lan was able to give amazing but always sensitive access to all that we came across en route and every moment of every day was a quiet revelation.
The river is a part of every life in the area and we were able to see it all, but always with a gentle, guiding hand. It was a daily, humbling insight that this modest and overwhelmingly friendly people led this life from dawn until dusk from generation to generation.
The shots in the e-newsletter and in this blog were taken by me on the trip and each one brings back a strong memory. Never was my photography seen to be intrusive and, particularly in photographs of the older women in different parts of Vietnam you saw an enduring pride and a landscape of life and its emotions.
I went to Vietnam with no expectations but on the Mekong Delta in particular, I felt very soon that I had lost that Western sense of urgency..........and this is one of the reasons I want to go back to Asia.
The way that Jo planned the trip (and the guides and logistics she put in place on the ground) opened up aspects that I could never have found myself.........and remote though I was at times, I never once felt threatened despite travelling alone.
