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MeznG. In the air, on the road, river or sea again
This morning we wake up moored in the middle of the Mekong near the village of Sa Dec. The meaning is sand and clay and that is the industry here. The river is alive with dredgers and barges digging and moving all the time.
We take a local Sampan to the shore passing floating houses. Our first stop is a brick and tile factory. The clay is bought from the river and these days there is a conveyer belt that takes the clay to the mixer and press. Watching the tiles come out at the end is amazing. The women then take the individual tiles and place them on carts that are then pushed by a person to the next spot where they are laid out for drying in the sun in preparation for the kiln. They make tiles, and bricks for the houses and most of the work is manual. They use the rice husks to make the fire for the kilns, then the ash left from the burning is sold back to the farmer for fertiliser. It's so amazing how nothing goes to waste. Of course we all know there is more technology these days but if they automate the process all of these people would be out of work. They are very conscious of keeping people in work as there is no social security or pension scheme.
Back on the Sampan we go to another landing and back onshore we are taking a walk through a local produce market. The stalls are well stocked and it's busy with locals picking up their daily needs. The fruit and vegetables are so fresh and beautiful. So many things we have never seen before and never tried. The meat on the other hand is a different story. No doubt it's fresh, in fact the chickens are still alive and kicking and the snails are slowly planning their escape but refrigeration is not an option so the flies are having a great time too. The fish are still alive until they are plucked from the bowl and quickly gutted and placed in a plastic bag for some lucky shopper. It's an eye opener but very interesting to experience. The next part of the market is for whole sale and bulk purchases. It's open 24 hours a day and it's where the hotels and larger establishments shop. The staff from the ship are always picking up bits and pieces when we go ashore and within hours it's on our plate.
Our guide Tinh walks us through a local 'supermarket'. We attract a bit of attention as there are not a lot of tourists that do what we do.
As part of the tour we visit the Chinese temple much the same as the one we visited with Quyen way back in Hoi An.
We continue our walk to the house of the Chinese man from the movie, The Lover. it's the house that belonged to his father. It's a very old house which looks French from the outside but inside is very ornately Chinese. We are served green tea and candied ginger whilst Tinh talks more about history of the house.
Back to the Sampan and back to the boat. Time for a refreshing dip in the pool followed by lunch.
This afternoon at 2.30 we leave again by Sampan to go to Cai Be.
This little town is home to rice candy and snake wine. We are visiting a family business where they make coconut caramels, popped rice, and rice paper like used to make Vietnamese cold rolls. And just to add a bit of excitement a young man appears around the corner with a massive Python wrapped around his neck and quickly off loads it onto our unsuspecting group! Now that excitement is over its onto the demonstrations.
All of the processes are very manual with a few modifications. To make the coconut caramel they firstly mince the coconut meat out of the shell with a metal blade or an electric grinder. They use every bit of the coconut, the milk, the flesh, the shell, the husk and the skin.
There is a low table where about 6 young girls are sitting wrapping the candies individually in rice paper and then wax paper before packaging.
Next we watch as a lady is making rice paper using ground rice mixed with water. It's cooked on a cotton cloth stretched over the fire which is fueled by rice husks. After a demonstration of how it is done we have a volunteer namely Glenn to have a go at making it. It's hopeless and he ends up with a ball of cooked rice noodle rather than a circle of the rice paper. Massive fail!
Next is the rice wine with a difference. This sticky rice wine has had snakes fermenting in it and it tastes like pure alcohol. There are huge jars with all kinds of things marinating in them including a king cobra. The Vietnamese men in the country drink a lot of rice wine when they finish in the fields and believe that snake wine makes them strong and virile.
Watching the popping rice is fascinating and once again it's a manual process all the way.
We sit to take tea with small samples of the products made here and then there is a chance to purchase some of the produce.
We walk back down the road stopping at a Catholic Church on the way before getting back on the Sampan and returning to the boat.
Tonight is our last night on board so we are treated to a small concert by a group of farmers from the Mekong Delta playing there self created instruments and telling the stories of their lives in music and song.
Dinner is a special event as well with a great menu including beautiful prawns, Aussie steak and baked Alaska for dessert.
A bit of fun after dinner when we are shown how to wear the Cambodian national dress with a few of us being the models......not good!
After a bit of a sing a long it's time to head back to our room.
We take a local Sampan to the shore passing floating houses. Our first stop is a brick and tile factory. The clay is bought from the river and these days there is a conveyer belt that takes the clay to the mixer and press. Watching the tiles come out at the end is amazing. The women then take the individual tiles and place them on carts that are then pushed by a person to the next spot where they are laid out for drying in the sun in preparation for the kiln. They make tiles, and bricks for the houses and most of the work is manual. They use the rice husks to make the fire for the kilns, then the ash left from the burning is sold back to the farmer for fertiliser. It's so amazing how nothing goes to waste. Of course we all know there is more technology these days but if they automate the process all of these people would be out of work. They are very conscious of keeping people in work as there is no social security or pension scheme.
Back on the Sampan we go to another landing and back onshore we are taking a walk through a local produce market. The stalls are well stocked and it's busy with locals picking up their daily needs. The fruit and vegetables are so fresh and beautiful. So many things we have never seen before and never tried. The meat on the other hand is a different story. No doubt it's fresh, in fact the chickens are still alive and kicking and the snails are slowly planning their escape but refrigeration is not an option so the flies are having a great time too. The fish are still alive until they are plucked from the bowl and quickly gutted and placed in a plastic bag for some lucky shopper. It's an eye opener but very interesting to experience. The next part of the market is for whole sale and bulk purchases. It's open 24 hours a day and it's where the hotels and larger establishments shop. The staff from the ship are always picking up bits and pieces when we go ashore and within hours it's on our plate.
Our guide Tinh walks us through a local 'supermarket'. We attract a bit of attention as there are not a lot of tourists that do what we do.
As part of the tour we visit the Chinese temple much the same as the one we visited with Quyen way back in Hoi An.
We continue our walk to the house of the Chinese man from the movie, The Lover. it's the house that belonged to his father. It's a very old house which looks French from the outside but inside is very ornately Chinese. We are served green tea and candied ginger whilst Tinh talks more about history of the house.
Back to the Sampan and back to the boat. Time for a refreshing dip in the pool followed by lunch.
This afternoon at 2.30 we leave again by Sampan to go to Cai Be.
This little town is home to rice candy and snake wine. We are visiting a family business where they make coconut caramels, popped rice, and rice paper like used to make Vietnamese cold rolls. And just to add a bit of excitement a young man appears around the corner with a massive Python wrapped around his neck and quickly off loads it onto our unsuspecting group! Now that excitement is over its onto the demonstrations.
All of the processes are very manual with a few modifications. To make the coconut caramel they firstly mince the coconut meat out of the shell with a metal blade or an electric grinder. They use every bit of the coconut, the milk, the flesh, the shell, the husk and the skin.
There is a low table where about 6 young girls are sitting wrapping the candies individually in rice paper and then wax paper before packaging.
Next we watch as a lady is making rice paper using ground rice mixed with water. It's cooked on a cotton cloth stretched over the fire which is fueled by rice husks. After a demonstration of how it is done we have a volunteer namely Glenn to have a go at making it. It's hopeless and he ends up with a ball of cooked rice noodle rather than a circle of the rice paper. Massive fail!
Next is the rice wine with a difference. This sticky rice wine has had snakes fermenting in it and it tastes like pure alcohol. There are huge jars with all kinds of things marinating in them including a king cobra. The Vietnamese men in the country drink a lot of rice wine when they finish in the fields and believe that snake wine makes them strong and virile.
Watching the popping rice is fascinating and once again it's a manual process all the way.
We sit to take tea with small samples of the products made here and then there is a chance to purchase some of the produce.
We walk back down the road stopping at a Catholic Church on the way before getting back on the Sampan and returning to the boat.
Tonight is our last night on board so we are treated to a small concert by a group of farmers from the Mekong Delta playing there self created instruments and telling the stories of their lives in music and song.
Dinner is a special event as well with a great menu including beautiful prawns, Aussie steak and baked Alaska for dessert.
A bit of fun after dinner when we are shown how to wear the Cambodian national dress with a few of us being the models......not good!
After a bit of a sing a long it's time to head back to our room.
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