March 9,2024

Today was a great day. It’s 11 PM at night and we have been going since first thing this morning so we will try and see how far we get on today’s adventure. we were up and off the boat by 8:30 so that we could walk out of the port and meet our guide who was not allowed into the port. As soon as we exited the gate, she was right there to greet us and introduce us to our driver. Her name is Han and we were told to call our driver Mr Handsome.

We had a long way to drive. As we know, the port is about an hour away from Ho Chi Minh City and we were headed to the Mekong Delta which was another two hours away. We were going to take the highway but our driver saw that there was a lot of traffic and recommended that we take the back road. The back road was kind of cool, because you got to see a lot of these small towns. One thing that was interesting in between the towns was the little roadside coffee cafés. They are not much in the way of ambience but they do have some plastic chairs and hammocks. They say that people that are driving from one town to another can stop and get a coffee and if they’re feeling tired, they can take a quick nap in the hammock and then when they get back on the road, they’re refreshed. we saw tons of them along the way.

We stopped about an hour and a half after we started at a family rest area that had beautiful gardens and a gift shop, snack shop, and little café, and our guide brought us fruit that she cut up for us.

us at the rest stop

Some of the flowers at the rest stop

After the rest stop, we continued on for another hour to our first stop, which was an old-fashioned brick factory. There are still some factories that make the bricks by hand and they use soil from the rice fields that have used up all nutrients. The bricks are different colors depending on the soil color. They use rice hulls as fuel to heat up the kiln. to 1000°C. They leave the bricks in the kiln cooking for 21 days with the fire going. Then after the fire goes out the bricks stay in the kiln for another 10 days. Our guide told us that most people don’t buy the handmade bricks because they’re too expensive, but she did say that locals building a house will get their bricks from the handmade people because they last longer.

making the bricks

The kiln. Broken bricks make up the walkway.

The bricks ready to sell

After the brick factory, we went down to the water, and there was a small boat waiting for us that had nice chairs and we were helped onto the boat and given a nice coconut to drink and Kathy and I and the guide, along with the boat captain, went for a boat ride up the Mekong Delta.

Kathy and I with our coconut drink and the pilot driving the boat.

Views of the Mekong Delta

The boat dropped us off at a coconut candy factory. Coconut is a big thing in Vietnam, and they export a ton of coconut, but they also use a ton of coconut. They use almost every part of the coconut for one thing or another. At the candy store they showed us how to shell the coconut, and then shred the coconut meat and heat the caramel to make the candy. Once the candy is made, it is cut into squares and then individually wrapped.

Shredding the coconut. Individually wrapping the candies.

They had a small gift shop where you could buy some candy, but they also had liquor there made from coconut, honey and pineapple. In several of the bottles they had snakes fermenting in the liquor. They did nothing for the liquor. It was just something to make the men feel more macho.

They had a little snack for us with some honey tea and a plate of fruit and some chili salt to dip the fruit in. They had fresh pineapple, grapefruit, jackfruit, and a rose apple. The pineapple dipped in the chili salt was very good, the rose apple was boring , the grapefruit was a little dry, and the jackfruit was horrible.

Our snack at the candy store. We did buy some coconut and peanut candy and a jar of the chili salt.

After the candy store. We got loaded up on a motorized tuck tuck. The three of us in the back and our driver on the front driving the motorcycle. He took us down these old dirt roads to our next stop, which was a place that makes handmade mats for sleeping on. They use reeds from the river, and they weave the mats by hand.

Threading the tool with the reed and then passing it through the weaver.

After the weaving demonstration, we got back on the motorized tuck tuck, and we were taken down to another place by the river to get into a smaller boat, non-motorized

Us walking down to our boat, and then the boat being rowed down the river.

Our guide had given us local hats to wear, and this was Kathy and I in our canoe with our boat driver.

She rowed us down some narrow channels, that had to be hand cut to make room for the boats. We then went into the bigger section of the river and pulled into our lunch stop

Heading to the restaurant

We got out of the boat and we were quite surprised at what a beautiful set up at our lunch spot. Our guide had called ahead and told them that Kathy was a pescatarian so that they would have everything ready.

Cashew nut Local flower

They brought out soup and chicken for me and tofu for Kathy and then they brought out this whole fish .

They showed us how to make our own rolls by bringing out rice paper and fresh cucumber and pineapple and noodles and taking hunks of fish and rolling it up. They also brought out two bowls of vegetables, steamed rice, and chicken curry. it was a fabulous meal and a great setting.

Our lunch setting

After lunch, our original boat that was motorized, came and picked us up to take us back to the starting point where the bricks are made

We got another 30 minute ride down the Mekong.

Views along the river

Our driver, Mr. Handsome was waiting and now it was time to drive to Can Tho. Can Tho is the biggest city on the Mekong River and where you want to stay to get to the floating markets early in the morning.

It was another 2 hour drive to get into town and we saw the sunset along the way.

Sunset

by the time we got into the city, it was dark and we were staying at the Sheraton so our guide and driver gave us a quick tour of the area in case we wanted to go back out and explore. We checked into our room and then we did head out into the city.

beautiful lights all over the streets

At the park, the display kept changing colors

More displays, and the bridge was all lit up

We got some local money. 1 million in Vietnam dong. Worth about $40 in the US.
We had a snack around 9 PM since we had had such a large lunch and left a $100,000 tip.😂

We walked around a street market, but did not buy anything.

Scenes from the market

If you look at this picture, you’ll notice that there are no red lights. It is quite fun in Vietnam to cross the street. Our guide yesterday told us that you try to pick a time when they’re not a lot of cars coming and that you commit to crossing the street and you look straight ahead and step out into traffic and you keep on going and you trust that all the motorbikes will maneuver around you. A little scary the first few times you do it but then you sort of get the hang of it. The trick is not to stop in the middle of the road because they’re not going to stop for you to let you by. They will weave around you, but they’re not going to stop for you.

We made it back to the room around 11 and showered

The view from the room, which is on the 25th floor.

Tomorrow we are being picked up at 7:30 to go to the floating markets and then from there our guide Hanna wants to take us to her village so that her mother can cook us lunch and introduce us to the neighbors. They are fascinated by our skin color, eye color and hair color. Should be an interesting afternoon.