JK - Today we traveled by bus and boat to an island near Vinh Long for our home stay. However, before we arrived to the island we made a few stops along the way.
First stop was a temple (and headquarters) for Cao Daism (meaning high tower or palace and is a euphemism for God) in Tay Ninh. This religion was founded in the 1920's and is unique to Vietnam. It combines secular and religious philosophies of East and West including Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, native Vietnamese spiritualism, Christianity and Islam. It is based on seance messages revealed to its founder Ngo Minh Chieu. There are only around 2-3 million followers of Cao Daism worldwide (Victor Hugo was one apparently) and it was only recognised as a religion recently.
Our boat first took us to the Cai Be floating market. It is nowhere near as big as it used to be and it seems as though each boat only sells one type of fruit. We saw pineapples, longons, dragon fruit and lots more, the boat owners are allowed to decorate their boats to advertise what they are selling.
We then stopped on land and visited an area where not only do they make fish sauce but also many different rice products - who knew rice could be so versatile?! First was rice wine, where a few of us sampled one that had a snake in it (see the photos for reactions), it was much tastier than any of us were expecting. Next came rice papers, followed by rice corn (popcorn, but made with rice) and lastly rice/coconut 'candy' which was made the same way as toffee. It seems as though no part of the rice goes to waste - even the husks are warmed very high and used to 'pop' the rice.
We then arrived at a little restaurant for lunch, where Tom ordered shrimp steamed in coconut water. It was basically a prawn on a plate - he was
a little disappointed. Next stop was a bonsai garden where we held a rather large python, I just hope it was related to the snake in the rice wine earlier....
After a rather lovely ride on some smaller boats up the Mekong, our big boat to us to our home stay for the night. We stayed in a beautiful old house in a tiny hamlet on an island in the Mekong. It was one of the most relaxing evenings I've had. Swinging in a hammock, reading my kindle and drinking a Tiger beers whilst listening to the cicadas and the old man over the road singing. The food cooked by the family was also amazing and we all got to help with the spring rolls! We also got to try elephant ear fish wrapped in rice paper with fresh herbs and salad - yummy.
Tom, Jules and Victoria spent the evening entertaining the guides with silly games such as Fuzzy Duck and Mrs Mckenzie dies. The guides seemed to find it very amusing and especially like doing the actions, such as 'Mrs Mckenzie died by putting her right toe in her left ear!' For me the evening was spent with more hammock swinging and kindle reading before climbing under the mosquito net and falling asleep.