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Another day trip today, this time to the Mekong Delta! On the drive there our guide told us some of the areas history and culture. Going past the rice fields we could see that were big tombs in the middle of a lot of the fields, and this is apparently for two reasons. Firstly it indicated it's that familia land, and secondly it's so that when they die, the can take the land to another world with then so that they can carry on farming. Vietnam is the number one exporter of rice in the world, but the money goes straight to the wholesaler, and farmers actually get their money from fruits like mango and papaya.
Our first stop was a magnificent Padoga built in 1849. The first thing you notice are the three gigantic statues of Buddha surrounding the building. Then you notice the beautiful golden building and the surrounding gardens with pink flowers everywhere. I became a true local, using my umbrella for shade.
Next stop was a boat trip along the Mekong river. The breeze was amazing and we saw load of little boats going about their business. Each boat as a pair of eyes right at the front, and this is tradition carried on from hundreds of years ago when there used to be crocodiles in the river, and the eyes on the boat supposedly scared them.
After lunch we visited a coconut candy family business. We watched a coconut go from hanging on a tree, to desiccating it, heating up the milk, adding flavour, rolling it out and eating it. Yum. The place is also a honey farm, and we got to sample honey tea! It also sells snake wine - I didn't fancy tasting that one. Little rowing boats took us to our final stop of the day, a fruit farm where we could sample the tropical fruits of pineapple, papaya (ew), dragon fruit and a tiny tiny banana. Back on the bus just as it started to rain!
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