HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Mixed Plate continued its tour of Southeast Asia with a visit to one of Vietnam's largest and possibly nosiest city. It's a historical city few Americans can forget. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You The city's name on the map is Ho Chi Minh City, but locals call it by its historical name, Saigon. Today, Saigon is a modern city of ten million people, all seemingly on the road simultaneously, on two wheels when they're not dodging flood waters. Keeping Ha Long Bay pristine for ‘guardian dragons’ This lowland is surrounded by water and as the river's song says, nah be and Mekong. At the Thien Hau Temple, we make a wish for the safety of Saigon residents as La Nina wreaks havoc in the region. The incense coil will burn for one week before temple spirits consider granting the wish. At the city gates flows the Mekong, not by any stretch of the imagination, a pretty river, but Saigon thrives because of its proximity. "The Mekong is 4,200 kilometers long. That's why it brings silt and mud, can be good fertilizer," said Son Nguyen, a Saigon resident. Precious upstream silt fuels the fecundity of downstream farms, like the fruit fields of sale, which proudly showed off his one hectare of guavas, jackfruit and mountain apple trees. He said this season's crop is worthy of a toast of his best rice wine. While the Mekong provideth, it also taketh away. High tides strip the coastline of the new silt, forcing human intervention to stem the erosion. Coconut tree sea walls are a temporary fix. River folk have learned to read the moods of the Mekong, which tell them when to fish, what to fish and what tributaries will be too low to traverse, which will be free-flowing. Check out more news from around Hawaii Everything grown on these shores, everything pulled from the waters ends up at the wet market. What culinary magic can they produce? That's tomorrow as we cast off for Singapore on Mixed Plate.