Sall Family Travels - Vietnam and Thailand 2013: Vietnam: Days 6 & 7

Oops, having too much fun to write! Our last outing in Vietnam was to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, and an overnight into the Mekong Delta. First we learned that most people still call the city Saigon since it is easier to say and has meaning to its people. Although a communist country, Vietnam, doesn't have any of the oversight one might expect. It feels like a truly capitalist environment, with businesses everywhere and tons of growth. Saigon isn't a pretty city and we were glad to only have two afternoons there. It feels big, unruly and dirty. Not too much to see there either, but it was a great jumping off point for our trip to the Mekong Delta.

We stayed at the Sheraton Saigon which had a great roof bar and these are views from our perch.

I'll also note that Charlotte was happy to find bubble tea!

The Mekong Delta is a fairly large area where most of the rice production in Vietnam is found. There are lush fields just outside of Saigon that go on for miles and miles. It, along with coffee, are primary exports. The Mekong Delta has over 18 million people over 15,000 sq. miles. That's VERY heavily populated! The large islands making up the region now have large, modern bridges connecting them, but there are still many smaller islands which require ferries to get to. Boat traffic is everywhere. Islands are constantly being made by silt moving downstream.

We went to a food factory on one of the islands. Below is a pile of rice hulls. These are the shells from the rice. Interestingly enough we found out that brown rice is really just white rice with one layer of hull left on it. There is a variety of brown rice that is brown all the way through, but this is rare. Who knew?!

This woman is using the rice hulls as fuel for her fire. She is making rice paper for spring rolls.

These guys are hulling out the coconut meat from older coconuts and it is then shredded and used to make coconut carmel.

We had to try the snake wine. No snakes in our sample and it tasted like wine.

Ever wonder how they make rice crispy treats? Starts using rice hulls to heat this big wok-type pan. Add some oil, sand (to keep the rice from burning) and rice. See the video below to see how quickly it pops. (not sure this video is working. I'll fix it if it isn't!)

Make carmel, sometime flavored with ginger, coconut, chocolate, or durian and mix. They'll then put it in a big board while hot and form it into delectable bars.

More homes along the Mekong. Many are on stilts to prevent them from flooding during the rainy season.

Lunch in a family run restaurant (they are all family run, I think!).

The food was amazing. This is called elephant fish because of the big ears. The fish meat is pulled off and rolled with vegetables into fish rolls.

Kissing shrimp.

Spring rolls.

More incredible Vietnamese fruits.

On our little boat before the rains hit in Vinh Long.

Regional Vietnamese music including singing and instruments. Of note were the distracted musicians. That is until Maddy and Charlotte asked to try the Dan Bau. It is really hard to play (see the video), but they guys really enjoyed helping them and got pretty engaged.

Back on board the boat we had fresh coconut milk.

Durian fruit. We liked it.

Can Tho was our destination and this is the Binh Thuy ancient house. It was constructed in 1870 in a French style by the Duong family and their descendants still live there.

Charlotte makes a triangle (a Princeton reference).

It is June 3rd and Maddy's 23rd birthday. She ended up getting small gifts at both hotels. Our dinner dessert was a surprise, but not in a good way. They forgot our cake, but we had fun anyway!

The Victoria Can Tho. Wish we could have stayed longer!

Boats, except fishing boats, have eyes on them to keep owners safe. No eyes on the fishing boats so the fish don't get scared off.

Boats need fuel and their owners food and water on the river.

The Can Tho floating market. Farmers come with their produce to the market and live on their boat until the produce is sold. It is sold in very large quantities to people who then resell on the streets. This is done daily so everything is really fresh. There are hundreds of boats selling their wares.