Helllo Vietnam!

February 19 we left Phnom Penh and drove a few hours to Mekong River where we got on an interesting little boat (pictures in the brochures are never accurate) and boated to the border of Vietnam. Once we got through passort checks and visa stuff we were finally in Vietnam territory! Our three day tour visited the Mekong Delta area which consists of small towns and islands on the river in South Vietnam. We boated a few more hours and arrived in the small town of Cho Doc. We walked around and checked out the market. The town is not very touristy, no signs were in english nor did anyone speak a word of english. We couldn't eat at the market because we werent able to translate what we wanted to eat. We luckily found a restaurant that had pictures and the name of the food item in english (vague english)... yippie! The restaurant menu had shark fin and bird nests... interesting but we decided to pass! It was fun to be truly engrossed in the culture and not see any other tourists... any tourists we did see were at that restaurant where we ate!
The next morning they were knocking on our hotel door to wake us up at 6am.....huh thought this was a vacation!? That morning we went to the floating village. It was cool boating through all the floating houses. We visited a fish farm, which is basically a floating house with a cage thing underneath to keep the fish in that they catch. They plump the fish up real fat then sell them for quite a bit of money at markets. The tour guide told us the house with the fish farm we visited woud cost $150,000 to purchase.... hello to my future! The woman just lays in the hammock all day and gets up to feed the fish.. rough life!
Speaking of hammocks.. They love hammocks in southeast asia. Every where we go you see a hammock set up with the person working laying in it... gas stations, markets, bars, shops, tuk tuks (they hang in the back truck bed like area), every home... you name it they have a hammock and they are probably snoozing in it. It's the good life... we have to wake them when we want to buy something or interrupt them while they are on the phone. Maybe something the US can start... go to the bank and wake up the teller from their hammock to get money out of your account... I can see it already!
Okay back to the fish farm...while visiting there we would lift up the wood floor and throw fish food in and a bizzilion fish would jump around trying to get a piece. It was crazy. After the fish farm we went to what they call the minority village. For a living they make scarves here as well as catch fish in the village during monsoon season. All the houses are on stilts because the water rises very high in the village. Last year they got 4 meters so it was a great year for them to get fish and bring home more $$$. We saw a woman making a scarf with a very old wooden machine... it looked incredibly tedious but the scarves were beautiful. After the exploring the minority village we took a van to the next town Can Tho.
We spent the afternoon in Can Tho exploring the riverside town. It was such a cute little town with the nicest people. All the woman wore spandex outfits with the top and bottom made of the same material.. they were normally bright colored and a swirly pattern... very interesting! Most women wear the straw round pointy hats. This seems to be a typical Vietnamese womens daily outfit.... The spandex pajama looking outfit and the straw hat.
The next morning, February 21, we went very early to the floating market. We visited the largest floating market in Vietnam. All though I have heard about floating markets that sell everything this one only sold food items such as fruits and vegetables. People boat through buying and selling food. After the floating market we went and saw where they make rice noodles. A very repetitive process for the woman who make it. Basically pour out mix on a giant crepe maker looking thing and let it heat up and create its shape. Then they peel it off and lay it on bamboo holders where it dries outside. Once comletely dry it is put through a cutter... and bam you got rice noodles.
We then visited a garden and a place where they grow many different kinds of fruit. Everyone on the tour enjoyed some fresh fruit.. well except us because I cold not understand the woman telling me the price so I gave up. There is only so many times you can say "what?" before you realize it is a lost cause. But we have enjoyed a lot of fresh fruit since being here... It's one of the cheapest things you can buy. After boating around the small canals we got on a bus to the capital, Ho Chi Minh City or what use to be Saigon. I love this city already... Can't wait to spend a few days here. Over and out!