Day 1 of cheap Mekong Delta tour
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2011
1
28
165
Trip End
Dec 06, 2012
Can Tho, Vietnam
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Our first stop was at Cai Be where our bus offloaded onto a wooden slow boat. We were driven along the Mekong where we saw the local floating markets. Simplifying the explanation, people drive their boat up to other boats which have lots of fresh local produce on them for purchase.
Next we were taken to a place along the river where the people turn rice grains into others products like rice paper, wine, popcorn and toffee. It's amazing how nothing is put to waste. After making the popcorn, the bits that are too small are given to the chooks which eat the white off the popcorn, leaving just the grain. This can then be used again in the hope of making a larger popcorn.
You could say that drinking culture of Australian men is fast becoming similar to that of Vietnam's. Rice wine has a high concentration of alcohol with the wine that we tasted "only" having 35% alcohol concentration. The local tour guide went on to say that the general percentage was above fifty percent and to brag about how much he could drink without throwing up! Great. A notable life achievement. Supposably the more that you can drink the more manly you are.
After lunch and a swap in group members we were rowed along the Mekong River in wooden boats by Vietnamese women. There is definitely no descrimination when it comes to physical labour out here. This is supposably the area in which Acopolypse Now was set but there's just too many people living here now for it to resemble anything like the movie. Still, a beautiful place and journey.
I'm sharing my room with another English girl tonight and we went to the main part of Can Tho for dinner. It was incredibly busy and the only reasoning we could think of behind this fact is that today is Valentine's Day. There were just so many couples that you could hardly find a space in the park to sit. But I doubt sharing a meal in the packed huts would be that romantic.
So far I'm impressed by the standard of the trip, considering how cheap it is. I wonder if the rest of the tour will be the same.
