Up early and breakfast before our guide Van picked us up at 8am. Terrific stay at Sapphire Hotel and would definitely stay again.
Road trip of about 2 hours down to Cai Be in the Mekong Delta to board a boat.
The waterways of the Mekong Delta was bustling with boats of all shapes and sizes. First stop the home industries of making candy, rice wine and rice paper. So interesting and the candy (lollies) were yummy. Rice wine tasted like pure alcohol and nearly blew your head off ( it is actually 40% alcohol). Not a single thing goes to waste as the rice husks are used for the fires, the left over ash is used as fertilizer. All the lollies are made from rice, peanuts and coconut in varying ways along with lots of sugar.
Van then had Poppy and Wayne have some snake wine. This is taken from a jar with real snakes fermenting in rice wine. (snakes are put into the jar alive -of course in 40% alcohol they don't last very long). Drinking snake wine is said to make you strong. They both downed a glass - how I don't know.
Next was to lunch and it was a huge feast of Elephant Ear fish and prawns and soup etc. The people here kept a python which Kobe enjoyed touching. Next it was to visit a bonsai garden and what had been years ago the first homestay in the Mekong Delta. Here we saw what an Elephant Ear fish looked like - very ugly, but tasted beautiful.
Then it was to our homestay where all 7 of us were sleeping in a big long room. A couple of other groups of travellers also there ( not in our room though). Boys and Poppy played cards and Grandy, Wayne and Rob all crashed out on the hammocks hanging about the place. These were SO comfy. Boys and Poppy finally crashed out too.
At 5pm we went for a walk with Van around the village - very hot and steamy. Back for a shower before dinner. Van had a game of 'shuttlecock' (like hacky sack), with Kobe and Lew and we relaxed with a beer. Dinner was again a huge feast but we didn't get through it all. Girls who served us were lovely. Van joined us after and we learnt a lot about him. Terrific young man.
All in bed by about 9pm to the sounds of dogs barking, boats travelling the river and the chatter of the Vietnamese.