By: Shoubhik Bose & Debanjana Maitra
Shoubhik and Debanjana, senior engineers in software companies of repute in Bangalore love travelling in India and abroad. They take time out to share their experiences through their travelogues.
The French connection — the colonial past of Ho Chi Minh City.
The French-era post office in Ho Chi Minh City.
A symbol of socialism inside the post office.
The Opera House adjacent to the under-construction metro rail. Japan has been a good friend of Vietnam post-war and has helped rebuild the country’s infrastructure.
Mekong Delta — the “biological treasure trove”.
A 2-hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City brought us to Mekong Delta which is called the “biological treasure trove” of the East. “Over 1,000 animal species were recorded between 1997 and 2007 and new species of plants, fish, lizards, and mammals have been discovered in previously unexplored areas, including the Laotian rock rat, thought to be extinct.”
We boarded a private boat which took us to one of the provinces inside Mekong Delta.
We were served Jasime tea with lotus seeds and local honey. We had sugar-coated ginger and sugar-coated banana fry, a typical Vietnamese way of drinking tea. ( We didn’t have to pay for any of this, but we liked it so much that we bought the honey! )
The love for tea
Being a bengali, it wasn’t hard to share the immense love for tea which the Vietnamese had.
Quán cóc ( ‘hot’ or ‘iced’ green tea ) is a part of Vietnamese culture.
‘Tra Chanh’ ( Lemon tea ) is used as a slang for hanging out thanks to the popularity of tea amongst youngsters!
