Friday morning, we had scheduled an all day tour of the Mekong. It started with a two hour drive south of Saigon. Eventually, we got to our boat and cruised over to the floating market at Cai Be. Apparently all the real action at the market is in the early AM, so I guess you would have to stay overnight down there to catch that. There was still a little bit of activity when we floated by but not much. Each boat has a flag hoisted that depicts what is for sale on the boat, and local villagers and merchants pull up to place their orders. Matt had a good time snapping lots of pictures of river life, so hopefully we’ll get our full picture album posted soon – look for an update. There used to be crocodiles in the river (if you believe the stories), so all of the boats have eyes painted on the front to scare them away!
We passed by the floating market and then stopped at a local tourist shop… where one family runs the whole operation and has the ‘demonstration’ areas set up, so you get to see the process for making coconut candy, popped rice treats (rice krispie treats!!), etc. The coconut candy was tasty (and very chewy), and some of the other candies were good too (ginger, peanut), so we bought some to bring home and share. There was also a decent selection of coconut wood housewares, so Matt picked up some new bowls for fun. The popped rice treats were particularly interesting… they make it using hot sand. There is a bunch of hot black sand in a giant wok, then they add in the rice. Once it gets mixed up the rice pops up from the heat of the sand (completely encapsulating the rice). Once it’s all popped, the “cook” strains out all of the sand and passes the rice to the next station where coconut milk is added and the rice is arranged in a giant rectangle which is then cut into individual serving sizes. Brilliant.
Next stop was lunch on an island somewhere in the Mekong. We learned that Vietnam has a bit of a power shortage at the moment, though, so the island is often without electricity, so no lights and no fans. Our luck changed for the better when the electricity came on halfway through our meal and we got a little fan action to help us cool off. Lunch was unremarkable – mostly fried – but it got the job done. The restaurant also kept a couple of giant pythons in cages nearby (strictly for entertaining the tourists, not for eating).
After lunch, we traded down into an old-fashioned row boat, with a woman in the back to push us along. When the guide said we were getting in a row boat, Matt thought he was going to get a chance to row. He’s still a little disappointed he missed out. Viv did get to wear a conical hat for this part of the journey, though.
Our last stop of the tour was at a nursery that grows all of the fruit that we had been seeing plus some others. After a quick tour, we sat down to sample some fruit and the staff of the nursery performed some traditional Vietnamese music complete with acting and singing. Then it was back to the boat and the car… and eventually to Saigon.
After we cleaned up and rested a bit, we explored the streets around the hotel. There were a lot of good shops full of laquerware, clothes, and other random souvenirs. We bought a few things for the (nonexistent) house, but then the rain started so we made our way to dinner. Those of you that know us well, know we never pass up an opportunity to try out Mexican food. And yes, there is Mexican food everywhere – even in Vietnam. Cantina Central in Saigon had a great menu of all the traditional Tex-Mex classics – tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and of course, margaritas. We got the steak tacos and fish tacos and a couple of margaritas. Nothing like home (or Texas, at least), but still pretty tasty. The fish tacos were cooked quite well and had a serious kick (Viv had to trade with Matt because she couldn’t take it!), and the steak was tender but would have been better if it had been grilled.
This is our last night in Vietnam (for a while). Tomorrow we fly to Luang Prabang (with a connection in Hanoi) and start the Laos portion of our trip.
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