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Location Date Asia 
1401922800 North America 1397602800 -
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Location Date Sun, 04 May 2014
1399198242 Sat, 03 May 2014 1399137356 Fri, 02 May 2014 1399049873
Today was a lot of fun, we went to the junk boats and saw the floating markets. We ended up stopping at a shop where they make candy and treats. We ended up watching a guy make coconut candy by stirring it on a hot stove and then watched how people strung the candy out and cut it. We got a chance to sample some and it was very tasty but quite sweet. We then walked further into the building and watched how they made puffed rice, rice wine, and snake whiskey. A very small amount of snake whiskey was poured for us to sample and it was disgusting; the after taste was so strong. And yes, it is made with real snakes (photos will be posted tomorrow of snakes in a large jar). After the shot of whiskey, we taste tested some more candy and sat down to sample even more candy and drink some tea.
After we finished touring the floating markets we headed towards our lunch destination. On the way there, we tried to pass another junk boat but we were too close and due to poor timing, their water discharge sprayed into our boat, soaking two people. It wasn't very pleasant (it sprayed the two people sitting in front of me) and flooded a bit of our boat.
Our lunch was delicious; it was a 5 course meal: soup, pork spring rolls, Vietnamese crepe, a full fish, and baby bananas for dessert.
After lunch we headed to our home stay lodge; however, our junk boat was too large during one section so we had to break off into smaller groups and go into smaller boats for the rest of the way. It was a little tricky getting off and on the boat.
Now I'm at the home stay and it reminds me a lot of the resort I stayed at in Costa Rica. There are a lot of tropical trees and hammocks. There are also a bunch of wild chickens running around the yard.
Overall, I like the feel and relaxation the country side offers compared to the busy cities of Vietnam. However, a down side of the country is there is a limited amount of toilet paper in the stalls and cleanliness/sanitation decreases a fair amount. So I'll remember to stock up on TP the next time we leave the city! But besides that tiny annoyance it is a nice area.
And, for dinner tonight we get to try snake and rat... So that should be interesting!
Tomorrow we head back into Ho Chi Minh City and go to the tunnels.
- comments
Ian Pretty cool day today. Sounds amazing. Wish I could have seen it. Was your picture your dinner ? They look like fish on platters... Tasty.
Bethany Those fish look kinda big. You're braver than I am trying stuff! Maybe the rat will taste like chicken? It all sounds so exciting! (It snowed)
Paula Yup, those were our lunch fishes. They were pretty massive but tasty, don't know what kind they were though. Ended up trying the rat, which wasn't bad. It had a smokey/ginger flavour to it but there was barely any meat to it, just bone. Didn't try the snake but another girl did and she said it tasted like calamari but it was also full of bones.
Ian Interesting. Do lots of foods have lots of bones ? Was your fish deep fried?
Dad How many are in your group? Glad to hear all is going well. Enjoy.
Paula Um, the fish might have been deep fried.. The skin fell off nicely. Not sure if it was or not, the scales just curled and flaked off but nothing was overly oily. And yeah, everyone who tried the rat meat said that it was very boney.. It did just taste like chicken though! Lol. Currently we have like 18 ish people but later tonight we are meeting up with more people so in the end we will have 30 people in the group.
Painter Just checked out your delta tour on Trip Advisor and found some photos that looked like your experience except everyone looked dry so no splashes from boat collisions. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures.