Day 43 - The Mekong Delta

Another early start today - 7am and we were off to the Mekong Delta, the southernmost part of Vietnam and the country's agricultural hub. Fortunately, Ly, was born and raised in the area so he had lots of inside knowledge. Rice, fruits and vegetables are all crops of this region.

We started the day out with an amazing bike ride through the back roads of the delta. We wound through little paths with small farms on either side and channels of the delta following us along the way.

Ly had informed us that the delta had the friendliest people in Vietnam, and this proved to be true. As we rode past farmers' houses everyone yelled out "hello" or "Xin Chao" (hello in Vietnamese)! People were eager to show us what they were doing. Below you can see some photos of Mango, Durian and Jack Fruit. The Jack Fruit are absolutely huge, and we saw trees everywhere.

We even stopped to say hi at a couple of farmhouses. The owners were incredibly friendly and welcoming, pulling out chairs, introducing themselves and telling us some simple stories, like how, "they don't have much, but they also have no worries". Of course, they are all farming, so they have plenty of food and their houses are certainly sufficient. In photo #1 grandparents tell us how they take care of their two 7-year-old granddaughters while their parents are out working.

We also stopped to chat with a group of women who were preparing Jack Fuit to be sent to a company that would then dry it for sale (photo #2).

After the bike ride, we stopped at a very special place for lunch. It was a farm owned by a family and they hosted private meal sittings. We were the only ones there! The lunch was one of the best meals we have had in Sout East Asia. It included fried squash blossoms, spring rolls, a rice pancake with pork and bean sprouts, small lobsters, soup and a stir-fried chicken dish. And Jack Fruit for dessert! It was an absolutely delectable feast! (poto#3)

Following lunch, we hopped on a river boat (Photos #1 & #2) and sailed on the Mekong. Our first stop was a transfer to an old small rowboat being rowed by an old small man! (Photo #3). He was delightful and took us for a peaceful ride through the narrow passageways of the delta.

Once we were back on the riverboat, we sailed the Mekong again and had a few more stops along the riverbanks to see the local artisans at work. One stop was at a candy shop that used local rice and coconut to make treats. You can see in the video below, a man making "popped rice". The concept is a bit like popcorn, but instead of a microwave, they use charred sand from the river that they heat up from a fire (to serve as the heat to pop the rice (see video below)

Once the rice is popped, they sift it, to remove the sand and rice husks. Then they mix the popped rice with sugar and other flavors like vanilla, coffee and chocolate to make sweet treats. We had a chance to sample a few of them while we were there.

The next stop was a pottery operation that was quite large. We watched several aspects of the process including the making of the bricks from mud, the forming of pots (photo #1), the pots in a kiln waiting to be fired (photo #2) and a women removing the bricks from the kiln after pots had been fired (there were multiple kilns) - (photo #3)

Here a woman files any imperfections from the pots. We learned that workers earn about $1/hour.

When it was time to head to our hotel we needed to take a ferry across the river. We were one of the few people on the ferry without a scooter:

Ahhhh - we made it to the lovely Legacy hotel (on its own little island)! After a long hot day, we were thrilled to enjoy a relaxed evening in a beautiful place!

Vietnamese Fun Fact:

• Coffee shops along the roads offer hammocks to customers (for free). Most people in Vietnam siesta around lunch time. It was bizarre to see shop after shop with around 20 hammocks each hanging from their ceilings.