They next morning we went back to find granny's souvenir shop. After some confusion, we discovered that granny wasn't there at the moment but her daughter in law was running the stall. Granny joined us soon after and was very pleased to see us. She was joking with us asking us to bring our son back next time we visited as a potential suitor for her granddaughter. We bought up some t-shirts and other souvenirs for friends and family back home.

Lunch was at Oodles of Noodles, a G-Adventures organised lunch that supports disadvantaged youth learning in hospitality. We all had a go at making fresh noodles which was like a sticky rice pancake. We then sandwiched it between crispy rice discs and broke pieces off to dip in various sauces. It was very interesting but Sue was a hard pass on the fermented shrimp sauce . We then had a nice noodle soup and walked out very full.

We then went on a local village tour via electric cart. Our guide, Chenda and Maddie decided to bike it so it was fun to see where they rolled in at each stop. First stop was Mr Tu who was a really sweet man referred to as "Mr Tofu". His family has been producing locally made tofu for at least 40 years from his house and the exact recipe was a closely guarded secret. The soaked soya beans are ground down using a traditional stone wheel and the thick white paste mixed with tapioca flour. We enjoyed a soft tofu dessert in a sweet ginger syrup. We'd describe it as silken tofu and apparently to make it firm they will cook it down and press out the moisture. Everyone really enjoyed Mr Tofu's demonstration.

The next stop was the local vegetable village from where the local guides family is from. The houses are arranged on the outer perimeter of the growing areas as beyond that are rice fields. This protects the produce growing inside the boundary from the sprays used on the rice. The areas are prone to flooding and when that happens, it can be devastating to the farmers. Although there is irrigation installed, many people prefer to water by hand using 2 watering cans suspended on each end of a pole. The pole is lifted from the centre across the shoulders and the watering cans swing back and forth, gently irrigating the plants. Steve had a go and it was surprisingly efficient to distribute the water that way as it's the back and shoulders that bear the weight and the arms just direct the flow.

Next stop was the coconut boats. These are basic, floating baskets that have a history. During the French colonial times, taxes were placed on any floating boats transferring produce along the waterways. To get around this, the locals found a loophole in that floating baskets are not covered by the French regulations, hence they avoided the tax. We were all loaded into boats based on degrees of desired spin. We chose the "low spin" option whilst Maddie & Ari chose the "high spin". We got this on video because it was a hoot. The basket was spinning so fast that Ari could bearly stop from flying out into the water. She got very wet as she clung on like grim death. As we paddled down the waterway, the skipper handed Steve the oar (note the singular reference). There's a technique to propel the boat forward that is a kind of back and forth swish. If you paddle it like a canoe, you go in circles. Subsequently we ended up in the coconut palms and Steve got the sack.

Anh dropped into the hotel for final fittings of the clothes and they were pretty spot on. Just one of Sue's tops needed a slight adjustment so they would be ready the next day.