We had a great day today touring the Mekong Delta. We left the city this morning for our drive to the port. On the way passing lots of rice paddies with graves in the middle of them. Our guide, Cong told us this was done a lot in the past as it was believed they would look after the paddies for future generations. It isn't allowed anymore.

Stopped at the local roadhouse for 'Happy House' as Cong calls it, which I guess the toilet can be aptly named on long drives. Wi-fi is everywhere in this country and all free. We were told they shot some satellites in the air and now anyone can access it. Bit of a shame Australia can't do that. Everyone is mad here for Vietnamese coffee, iced or hot and especially with condensed milk and during our Happy House stops, most people grab one.

We arrived at the port and met our local guide for today, Tho, pronounced Two. She was a wealth of information and had great english. We jumped in our boat and were taken to Cai Be, the floating markets. They are much smaller than in years gone by and the worry is that in years to come they will cease to exist due to the roads being built and people being able to go to the farms. The boats sell fruit and vegies wholesale and you know what they selling as they put one each of the items on a pole and hang it out.

We were able to visit some cottage industries, checking out how they made rice paper - fresh and frozen ones, fish sauce (tastes so much better than what you would think when you hear and see how it is made), snake wine, rice wine, coconut candy and puffed rice (cooked in black sand). Got to taste the snake wine and the candy and rice. Snake wine was awful!!

Then off to An Binh Island for lunch which was a new experience. We were served Elephant Ear Fish which was upright on this stand and we used that and some fillings to make rice paper rolls. This was followed by spring rolls, Chicken in Lemongrass, soup and fruit.

Back in the boat to the next stop, a garden with lots of different fruit trees where we were served more fruit including a dipping plate of chili salt for the fruit. Along with herbal tea, we were able to try Gooseberry wine and Calabas wine which was deadly. Drank it out of small thimble cups like a shot.

We went for a walk through the village and saw some roosters in prime condition in cages, bred for c*** fighting. We then jumped in some local boats to navigate some small channels and got to wear the conical hat before transferring back to our other boat and heading to our homestay.

Very relaxing, not a lot of mosquitoes which surprised me. Our dorms were over the water but very comfy. Had a lovely cold shower when I arrived as I didn't think I would feel like one in the morning. We hung out on the 'deck', some enjoying the hammocks and were once again surprised to find we had wi-fi. Had a lovely dinner served by our host family and then we had the chance to ask the owner questions about living on the delta. It really was a fantastic day and got to try so many different new things, never would have thought I would be trying snake wine that is for sure.