We're headed to the airport in about half an hour to fly to Danang, where we'll then get picked up to go to Hoi An. It looks like Hoi An will be more of a beach resort, complete with a swimming pool and beach! It will be nice to escape the city life.
Actually, yesterday we went on a fantastic day tour of the floating markets on the Mekong River. The tour bus picked us up at 6:15 am. We then traveled for about 2 1/2 hours to the Mekong River. Our tour guide, Hai, said we could call him Mr. Hello. I laughed at his silly jokes all day long. He gave us some information about Vietnam and it's major exports, like rice and fruit. The fruit is amazing here. This is my first time in a tropical environment and I gorged myself on local fruit yesterday: bananas, longans, rambutan, white melon, water melon, coconut juice and more.
The drive to the river was interesting. Traffic works like this: you drive on your side of the street until you need to pass someone. Then you honk your horn to let the slower traffic know your passing. Finally, you move back to your lane just in time not to collide with oncoming traffic. Motorbikes are the norm here. Unlike in China, helmets are required. We noticed children and babies didn't have helmets however, which seemed...dangerous. Hai said the law is 6 and older. I'm not sure how that protects those under 6, but I guess it's not my place to judge.
Along the way, we noticed interesting buildings: churches, temples, above-ground grave sites that were multicolored and situation in the middle of a field.
At the river, beautiful lotus plants were all over the water. And boats everywhere. Our boat for the day arrived and we got on with our group of 6: a young couple from Munich (she's French and he's Hungarian) and an older couple from Belgium who live in Paris. We were welcomed with our first plate of fruit.
The boat ride provided a nice breezy reprieve from the exhausting heat of the day. There were floating markets everywhere. We also got to see (into) all the riverside homes and catch a glimpse of the daily life of the people who lived there. Some were hanging out, others were doing laundry. Hai said they liked to be right on the river for better business, just like in towns the houses are right on the streets.
We made a few stops: first for honey tea, and then to see rice getting made into puffed rice and whiskey. We also saw coconut candy being made and tried some samples. Then it was back to the boat and then on to an island, which we toured by bicycle. Our bicycles were ill-fitted and not in the best condition, but it was fun to ride around, cautiously avoiding passing motorbikes, and being greeted by school children in uniforms coming home after school. After our bike ride, we had a short lesson on how to make spring rolls, which we
rolled up and fried. They were delicious as was the rest of our lunch, which included a papaya salad and fried elephant fish, which we ate in rice paper with cucumber and pineapple. It was an amazing lunch. After lunch, it was back in the boat for our paddle tour. We went for a rowing tour in a narrow, back stream. We made one more stop then for some fruit (even though we were still stuffed) and some traditional singing.
On the bus ride back, we had a nice conversation with our new friends who we hope to see again in Munich, Adam and Anais.
Back in Saigon, we finished the day with a nice dinner at Five Oysters. I had chicken pho and Dan enjoyed fried squid and pineapple. We're looking forward to the food in Hoi An!
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