A French woman loves Chinese men in the Mekong Delta

Now I want to explore his last section, where it expands, forms side arms, and pours into several main streams into the South China Sea: the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. I will stop in the cities of Cần Thơ and Châu Đốc and immerse myself in the life on the river, the floating markets, the houseboats, and the pristine marshes and forests. The Delta is slightly smaller than Switzerland, a bit larger than Baden-Württemberg, and densely populated with over 20 million people. Due to its alluvial landscapes, it is exceptionally fertile.

I booked several tours on the river and in the nature reserves between October 6 and 11. But first, I experience a surprise, as I am once again inadequately prepared for what awaits me: I am thrust right into the scene of a masterpiece of French love literature.

Vietnamese-French Manor

On the first day in Cần Thơ, the largest city in the Delta, I take a motorcycle taxi to a residential neighborhood about six kilometers from the city center and visit Binh Thuy Ancient House. Travel guides praise it as one of the best-preserved colonial mansions in the Mekong Delta.

The house belongs to the Dương merchant family; it obtained its current appearance between 1904 and 1911, featuring an extraordinary mix of styles: the exterior presents itself as a magnificent French colonial villa with a curved staircase, Corinthian columns, a facade adorned with floral motifs, iron balustrades, and arched windows. The internal structure, on the other hand, strictly follows the rules of traditional Vietnamese house construction and Feng Shui philosophy.

The interior is symmetrically arranged. The floor consists of intricately patterned tiles imported from France, while the supporting columns and ceiling beams are made of dark tropical wood and adorned with Asian carvings. The house feels to me like a slightly chaotic and cluttered private museum with Chinese vases, a Louis XV style seating group, a round marble table from Yunnan, tea sets from the Ming and Qing dynasties, European chandeliers, old gramophones, and so on. The house is currently inhabited and used by the sixth to eighth generations of the Dương family.

Foolish Love in Colonial Times

However, only when viewing signed photos and handwritten letters behind glass does it occur to me – poorly prepared, as I said – that the house served as an important filming location for the French feature film