Cai Be, Tien Giang Province

A gorgeous day - we board a tender boat similar to the Sampan with low roof covered with woven bamboo for protection, so it does not catch the wind and can get under bridges. We are taking an excursion to Cai Be.

We go by local floating boats - markets - all the boats have a bamboo pole with sample of what they sell tied at the top of the pole, the family lives on boat. Shoppers mill about on smaller craft. We see the houses on stilts and businesses on the water eg fuel station, mechanic shops, fish sauce factory - the people all rely and live on or by the river.   People are open-hearted and hospitable.

Ashore we visit the 19th century French Gothic Cathedral - it is different - with the Pope allowing incense to be offered to ancestors that are not Catholic. There was a presence of war, with evident bullet holes in lead light windows.
 
We then walked by the river houses, saw how the locals lived - ending in a rice paper mill and coconut candy workshop. We enjoyed seeing them making coconut toffee, popped rice and tried many other sweets. At the same factory we saw how they made the Mekong Whiskey (rice wine) and snake wine!
  
It was a fun morning and lunch was ready when we got back.

SAC DEC, DONG THAP PROVINCE

We set sail to Sa Dec a river port, agricultural and industrial trading centre - whilst we watch a presentation of the what happens when the Mekong River floods - which is more often than not - where the kids learn to swim early, the schools still operate with water in classrooms, and they ride bikes instead of motorbikes to get around through waist high water.

During the afternoon excursion, we visit the land markets - the colourful and exotic foods cause all senses to go into overdrive! See photos - Duck, frogs, eels, lizards, dried squid, snails, live fish, prawns, so many varieties of fruit and vegetables. The locals go to the market twice a day - for their meals for the day - everything is fresh - they don't buy for the next day, it's a place not only for food/meal purchases but socialising. We also saw all the different types of rice - so many - depends on soil it's grown in, flavours etc.

We visit the old house of Huynh Thuy Le, now known as "The Lovers House", the ship is actually named after Marguerite who was the author of the best-selling autography “The Lover”, it was produced and released in a film version in 1992 with great success.    The story and film for that period was quite risk taking, about a love affair of a teenager and Chinese man.   The ship shows decor similar to the house, which beautiful wood features and French tiles.

The weather was perfect warm not too muggy - the rain though looked like it was heading our way so we visited a temple – Cao Dai Temple - that combined all religions - it was very colourful,

The river has noticeably lots of water hyacinths - a floating weed - used for fertiliser, stops erosion on banks, and used by the Viet Cong to hide in - during the war.

On the way back we saw a large sampan carrying 100’s of white ducks (to sell to the farmers) - it was a beautiful sight to see to end the day.