Day 34: 12/7/13
Happy birthday Mam- hope you have had a good day!
We had to be ready for 8 today to go to the homestay. We could only bring a small bag with us and then we had to leave the rest at the hotel. I had a bit of work trying to fit everything into the rucksack because there's a few things I usually have in my hand luggage. It'll be difficult enough to close the bag in two weeks time I'd say- there'll be a lot of things getting the chop!
There were a few of our old group there this morning as they were getting ready for trips so we got to say goodbye to them before we left- Karen, Hayden, Nikki and Andrew. We didn't really say a proper goodbye to the others as I didn't see them yesterday- Jess, Anthea, Colin or Amy.
A bus brought us to the homestay and the guide gave us some information about Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam while we were driving. Ho Chi Minh was called Saigon and it was the capital of South Vietnam. The guide seems to call it Saigon so I think that's what the Vietnamese call it. There are 10 million people living here and 90 million in the whole of Vietnam. No wonder it seems so busy all the time!! The roads are crazy busy with scooters (motorbikes) everywhere! The number of scooters equates to 60% of the population. In the past scooters were really expensive as there was an embargo on trade with the US and it made it difficult to buy items like scooters. To get a good quality scooter you would have to go to Japan and maybe pay $3000 dollars. People just bought cheap ones though because they couldn't afford them so then there were lots of accidents. Nowadays they can get good scooters for much cheaper- maybe 300.
In Saigon people can earn about 350 US dollars a month but in other parts of the country they earn just about half. Saigon then is way more expensive, but they have the money. The guide said that 10-13 years ago people were poor, but now they aren't really. Their quality of life is getting better all the time.
In ancient times North Vietnam was the kingdom of Vietnam. Below that then was the land of the Cham Pa who now don't have any land. Then the southern part was Khmer, the Khmer empire that built Angkor Wat and everything.
The King of the Khmer empire married the Vietnamese kings daughter and gave them some land at the south. Bit by bit the Vietnamese kingdom expanded and by the 1800's it had developed to it's current size.
Vietnam was colonised by the French until 1954. Between 1954 and 1975 the country was divided into North and South Vietnam- the North being communist and the South being capitalist. The Vietnam war took place during that time and when the war ended in 1975, the country was reunified. Still people in the north and south have differences- but nowadays it's mostly forgotten about. For the guide's children he said it is fine, but in his grandparents and parents time there was lots of discrimination.
While we were driving we passed lots of rice fields were people were working. They were all wearing the pointy wooden hats and myself and Ann-Marie spent ages trying to get good photos but we have more bushes and fences than people!!
We got to Ben Tre city easily enough anyway and were in the heart of the Mekong delta. The Mekong river is extremely important to the economy and welfare of the area. It's a huge river that begins in China and flows through Bhurma, Laos, Cambodia and finally Vietnam, where it enters the ocean. The river is full of silt so it looks completely brown, but it isn't actually dirty. They can separate the silt from the water using aluminium sulphate, just like we were shown on the floating islands in Cambodia. Because of all the silt the land is very fertile so is excellent for growing rice. 60% of all rice grown in Vietnam is grown in the Mekong delta and the Vietnamese are the second biggest producer of rice in the world after China.
From the port in Ben Tre we got a boat to drive us along the river. It was a similar type of boat to the one in Cambodia too, long and narrow with rows of seats. We had a local guide to tell us all about the Mekong delta- he was with us for the whole day. It's a really wide river so it took a while to get across. There was a nice view though as there's a big bridge across it and lots of boats sailing in the river. There were lots of locals in little tiny boats rowing along, going about their business- particularly women in conical hats. We stopped at different places on the river bank and I know we were on an island, but I'm not sure if we were on the same island all the time or if we were on different islands!!
Out first stop was for honey tea. There was a whole hive of bees there on the way in that the local guide picked up and was waving around the place. You could see the bees all busy making honey. I don't know how they don't fly off the thing and sting people!! The honey tea was lovely. They put in honey, lime, pollen and boiling water. Of course they had royal jelly and some honey covered snacks that they wanted us to buy. Most of the snacks I tasted were nice- sesame seeds, peanuts, etc- but one of them just tasted rotten and I couldn't figure out what it was. Eventually I figured out it was ginger- for future reference I don't like ginger!!
Our next stop was to try fruit. We saw the trees where the dragon fruit grows- they look just like cacti. There were lots of trees and nice gardens. We walked around and they showed us a typical house. You could see the open room inside where they would eat and entertain, with the incense burning outside for blessings and good luck. They give offerings too to the spirits so that they will be satisfied with the food and won't enter the house. In the garden they had some of the baskets with the pole that you put across your shoulder. We got a photo with them. It was hard enough to balance it and make sure the basket didn't come off the pole, but then there was nothing in our baskets anyway!
After we'd walked around they gave us fruit to try. We tried Langdon off the trees. It's like lychee I think. Then at a table there were lots of other fruits for us to try- rambutan (like lychee again), papaya, dragon fruit (white inside- no major taste), pineapple (which we were told to dip in the salt and pepper or chilli. It was surprisingly nice, except the chilli was a bit too hot.), and bananas (which come in mini sizes here and are green on the outside, although they taste the same on the inside).
While we were trying all that some locals played music for us. There was a guy playing a banjo type instrument which only had two strings. Another guy had a fiddle type instrument that you hold on your lap. It didn't seem to have many strings at all and the now seemed to be attached to the main instrument. There was a girl then with a big instrument that was like a guitar but had way more strings and she played it flat on her lap. They had a normal guitar aswell. The music was obviously very stringy and they seemed to be going for the out of tune kind of sound. I could hear a clangy sound aswell for ages and I couldn't figure out what it was but the guy with the fiddly instrument seemed to be making the noise when he tapped his foot. Various women and men came along then and sang songs from the area. They were quite screechy, but good!! At the end they took off into 'if you're happy and you know it clap your hands!' Which was very funny!! They passed around the banjo instrument then and I managed twinkle twinkle in the little time I got! I wanted a go at the fiddle one though, but that one wasn't passed around!
Next stop was a coconut candy farm. We saw them cutting up the shells, getting the flesh out from the inside, shredding the flesh boiling it and then pouring it out onto trays where it's made into strips and then cut up into individual sweets. They had lots of different flavours and we got to try loads of them. They were kind of like fudge really, very chewy.
There was another area beside that where they were making rice paper. They just were boiling some white liquid which I presume had rice and pouring the liquid out into circles to dry. When it was dry you had rice paper! I don't know how they get different textured ones though. We got to try different flavours of that too which was grand but just dry!
On the way back to the boat we passed a wooden box which had a python in it- it seems they keep them as lets here! A man took him out and we got turns holding the snake, ie the snake wrapped around our necks!! I was okay with the feel of it- it's not slimy at all, just leathery. As soon as I had it on me though it kept putting it's head towards mine and I couldn't really push it away! I couldn't believe how strong the snake was!! I didn't last long with it on me as I didn't want a snake in my face!!
After that we sailed down the river a but further until we came to a little inlet or tributary or something that we needed rowing boats to go down. The boas were tiny- there were three in a boat, one behind each other and if you leaned at all to one side it would start to tip! We had a woman standing at the back of ours, rowing us down the river. They gave us some conical hats so we very much looked the part! It was a narrow little river with trees all around us and after being at the war museum yesterday you would nearly expect a sniper to jump out of the bushes!
We made it to our destination for lunch anyway without any ambushes! They brought out a full fish with some kind of scales or something stuck to it and left it kind of sitting on a stand in the middle of the table. We were wondering what we were supposed to do with it but then they came with a whole load of other plates and made up fresh spring rolls for us. The fish was called an elephant ear fish- whatever they look like!! We got a whole heap of other dises then- shrimp, fried spring rolls and fried banana bread, soup, pancake with shrimp, fried rice and jackfruit. It looked like the supply of food was never going to end!!
We had a little free time then. I went to the bathroom then to reapply suncream and repellent and all that which took ages! When I came back most of the group were sleeping in hammocks. I got some funny sleeping photos of Ann-Marie and Steff. There was a young little local boy there too that I was watching shimmy up a tree. There were no branches or anything on the free, but he was somehow able to clamber up and down!
We got a tuc-tuc ride around the island then. It wasn't so much a tuc-tuc as a jeep trailer attached to a motorbike. There were four of us in this trailer- two facing two, all perpendicular to the driver. We were with Hannah and Steff. We had to wear helmets for this trip and it looked hilarious on Hannah as she always wears her hair as a bun on top of her head! We took lots of photos of ourselves. I was taking a photo of Ann-Marie at one stage on her camera and I was roaring laughing because her glasses had somehow gone completely lopsided on her face! What I didn't know was that Steff was taking photos of me laughing! We drove around on little narrow roads with trees all around us and we had to keep ducking so that we wouldn't get whacked by the banana leafs!! We saw lots of people working in the fields and cycling or riding past us. There were lots of rice fields which are really bright green. In the fields we could see lots of gravestones. The guide said that when someone dies they bury them on their own land. They give them a really pretty resting place so they will be happy. For part of the journey we were on a main street with stalls, markets, proper roads and actual traffic. That was a completely different side to the pure green rice fields with ladies in conical hars working in them! I saw the local guide at one stage pointing at something and I looked into the stall he was pointing at and I see a headless animal hanging upside down. I was wondering what the hell it was when I saw a dog's head on the table. We had to clarify with the guide afterwards but it was a dog. The locals actually do eat dogs. They have some for pets and some other breeds for eating. We couldn't believe it, but it seems there is some sort of reasoning behind their madness! When the French were in control they out taxes on everything, include all sorts of meat. They didn't put a tax on dogs as it never entered their heads that anyone would eat it, but as the locals got poorer that had to so whatever they could to survive. Bit by bit, they realised that they could eat the dog and that it was quite tasty!
The bus collected us from where we had lunch and brought us to the Homestay. I presume there's a bridge considering we came to the island on a rowing boat!! The home stay seems nice. It's a little wooden cabin with a few different rooms in it. We got the one right inside the front door with just four beds in it- the potatoes and the English. There's a little stren running along the front of the cabin with a concrete bridge over it. The 'road' is just concrete too and is extremely narrow- bit even one car would fit on it- it's made for bikes and pedestrians!! There were other cabins around too and the whole place was surrounded by green trees. It was quite picturesque!
We had a bicycle ride then which was really good. We were cycling on the little side roads that the homestay was on. We turned on to a main road for a little while but mostly we were just on side roads. These roads are basically concrete paths and there's little rivers and streams everywhere. So you could have a river on one side and then have a motorbike passing you out on the other side. Great fun!! The path is just wide enough for two bikes most of the time. Like the last bike in Cambodia aswell, everyone was really friendly and was waving out at us and smiling! It's a good way to see the locals and the houses. A lot of people were cycling or riding past us but many were working as it was a bit cooler than early in the afternoon. We stopped twice. Once there was a field with snails in it. I think they eat them, but they also feed them to animals. We stopped another time at a cucumber field. There were rows of cucumber with drains full of water in between. There was a poor man with a bowl watering them, flicking water from the drain up over the plants. He had to go up and down every second drain o get all the plants and it has to between twice every day! A painful job! His back must be killing him- its like turning turf every single day! It only takes 26 days to grow the cucumber though and then they'll be planting something else. In another section we saw sour watermelon growing. It looked like a diseased cucumber- I can't imagine it would taste good!! The bike ride was good fun though. I think we have more bike rides in other towns too so it should be good. 'This be good, this be good!'
We had about a half an hour then when we got back to freshen up or shower. It's all go today!!
In the dining area it was starting to get dark and Hannah knew a cool trick with a camera and a torch. If you put the camera on a very slow shutter speed and make a shape or a letter with your torch, the camera records it all and you can see it as one picture at the end. It looks really good!
We got a chance to make Spring rolls then. They had chopped up carrots, sweet potatoes and a few other things and then the guide mixed them all together with salt, pepper, chilli, sugar, spring onion and pork. We got to put them in to the rice paper sheets then. You only put in a tiny but so that the inside will be cooked properly. If you put in more the outside will burn and the inside won't be cooked. They need to be rolled nice and tight too and then they fry them in some kind of oil.
It was dark at that stage so we went out in search of Fireflies. The local guide brought a little net with him. The net was about as big as your hand but it had a long pole on it. We just walked up the 'street' a bit (concrete path!) and he went in the bush after one and caught it no problem! He had a bottle to put him in and he stayed lighting for a good while. It's the males that light up to attract the females. We found a tree with loads of them on it- it looked like a Christmas tree but he couldn't catch any as the pole couldn't reach in far enough. Apparently they used to catch them long ago to have for light when there was no electricity.
When we came back, the dinner was ready. We had the spring rolls that we had made, which were lovely. With that was some other fried stuff- tofu and catfish I think. They like to bring out lots of courses and leave them in the middle of the table for everyone to take a a small bit. So we got loads more- watery pumpkin soup, noodles, rice and pork and pineapple. We didn't even want half the food- there were buckets of rice left over! When our guide was giving the briefing for the next day Stefd was joking about with her rice making us all laugh- I think the guide thought he said something wrong, or that we were laughing at him- oops!!
After dinner we played a Vietnamese game. They had a board with six characters on it- fish, deer, crab, bottle, yabbi (shrimp) and chicken. There was a pot with three dice in it. One person would shake the pot and you wouldn't know what has come up on the top of the dice as it's covered. There were counters then (actually the things you use to put birthday candles on a cake!) and you place a counter on the one you thought had come up. The winners got to get some ash from the bottom of a pot (it was more like grease) and make a mark on the face of one of the losers- just one mark on one person- unless your symbol came up on two or three dice and then you got to mark two or three people. The shaker was the leader and if more people won than lost they would have to mark the leader, if more people lose the leader gets to mark some. There was talk about swapping the leaders marks for someone elses and we got all confused but then our group guide or the local guide didn't seem to do any swapping so I don't know what that bit was about! We all ended up with funny faces though- monobrows, beards, chins, evil eyebrows etc. So of course we had to take some funny photos! The guide is pretty small so Steff gave him a piggy-back. He was afraid he would hurt her but not a fear of it- he's tiny!
Washing teeth and getting ready for bed is always great fun in a squat toilet! Luckily everyone is in the same boat- so we all stink together! We had mosquito nets and curtains around the beds and everything so we were all tucked in by the time we had to go to sleep!