Black water

The other day I mentioned the improved Hanoi drainage - even in a Big Rain, the streets are fairly clear of floods nowadays. Well this is where it comes out. The river branch at the top of the photo contains run-off from the city. The left branch comes from upstream of the city and is the red colour it's supposed to be. Note the floating vegetable gardens in it. Downstream of this junction, the water is entirely black, although it wasn't a few days before the photo was taken. The water level has been deliberately lowered by closing a gate further upstream. This is done so that people can pump excess water out of their fields in order to prepare for the next crop. But the result is that the only water flowing out of the city is water emanating from the city. So you realize that this black stuff is in fact always there, it's just hidden when the water level is high! It smells, is covered in oil slick and has gas bubbles plopping up from the depths. There is a kind of fish that can live in this, amazingly enough. It's called ca ro. We were given some for dinner a few days later - my colleague was unable to eat it and I just prayed that it had been caught further upstream! We did see some people fishing, also chickens pecking about in the mud by the "water's" edge and, most horrifyingly, we were told that some people depend on the river for their own water supply.