A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
About the only positive element of the Mekong bus ride was our guide, who shared all kinds of fun facts. So today you get a little education, courtesy of Thanh, our helpful guide:

Fun Fact #1: 50% of Vietnamese motorbike drivers do not have a licence. Needless to say, this was not a surprise to me. Remarkably, during our Mekong drive we actually passed a police checkpoint at which the cops were checking for licences. I never thought I'd see the day.

Fun Fact #2: Families in the Mekong used to be very big, for a variety of reasons. Parents needed workers for the rice, they needed someone to take care of them when they were old, and they all went to bed early because of the lack of electricity. Perhaps even more crucial was the fact that delta residents wed very young -- between 13 and 16 years old for girls, 15-18 for boys. As uneducated illiterate agricultural workers with no family planning information and no electricity, It wasn't uncommon for girls to have 5 or six kids by the age of 18. Yikes.

Fun Fact #3: Facing overpopulation pressures, the Vietnamese government put their mind to the above problem. They sent teams of doctors and teachers down to the delta to provide family planning information and devices, required that all children go to school and learn to read, outlawed marriage for people under 18, and started a campaign strongly promoting a two-child policy. Although there is no monetary penalty for having more than two children as there is in China, a government employee with more than the requisite number will find it a serious obstacle to promotion.

Fun Fact #4: Television has only come to the Mekong in the last 10 years or so, since the economic liberalization reforms of the early 90's. Once the economy started to pick up, thousands of young Mekong Delta residents migrated to factory jobs in Saigon, sending money and durable goods back to their families in the rice paddies. Today the Mekong is a veritable orchard of aerial antennae sprouting from the rickety shacks among the coconut palms. Even the boats in the floating market sported aerials alongside their vegetables and fruits.

Do you feel more educated now? Any questions?

© 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 7:43 PM