Saturday night we went on a dinner cruise on the Saigon River. They have them in Bangkok too but we have never taken one in all the times we have been there. We took a cab to the appointed pier for the cruise on a Junk that left at 7:30 P.M. We had a welcome drink that I think was pepto bismal but I am just going by the taste. Some kind of fruit and cream thing I guess. Everything went up hill from there. As we cruised up the river, or down; I have no idea, but we had a nice buffet with lots of seafood and Asian dishes. The entertainment was really quite good. The girls, dressed in colorful, native costumes sang songs and did dances from their history. Later, one of the singers and the keyboard player entertained us until we returned to the dock and back to our hotel.
The next morning we were picked up in the morning for a trip to the Mekong Delta. We went by minibus with only two other people. We spent an hour or so meandering through the waterways and one of the main tributaries of the Mekong. We stopped at the floating market and that was a real surprise. It was as different from the one in Bangkok as night and day. The one in Bangkok is aimed at the tourist and they sell all sorts of touristy things. This floating market was aimed at the local people and produce was the main thing that was sold. The people on the boats bring their produce to the river and stay on their boats for a week or so until it’s all sold. I should explain that the Mekong Delta spreads over 400,000 square kilometers and thousands of islands are located here. The locals living in the delta travel by boat to school, to shop or to work, if their job is located on a different island.
We also stopped at one place and saw how they made rice and banana crackers. They were flat like a thin tortilla. We bought some made from bananas. Surprisingly, there was no high pressure, sales pitch. We also saw a man making puffed rice in a huge wok and others making cookie type things much like a rice crispy treat but with a slight taste of ginger. We also saw others making coconut candies that are cut by hand, and since they are sticky, they are wrapped in rice paper (that you eat with the candy) and then wrapped with waxed paper, overall. We were supposed to see how they make rice paper but they weren’t making any that day. Later on the boat tour we saw how bricks are made. A kiln is fired with the hulls that come off the rice. After the rice hulls are burned the ash is used as fertilizer in their gardens. They don’t waste anything. We noticed that all the work at the brick yard as at most other projects is done manually with little or no power equipment. The people are poor and lead a very simple life. They don’t make much money but they have most of their needs met by nature. The vegetation is very lush and many varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown. The river provides fish and people have their own chickens and ducks. The guide told us, that unfortunately the most children raised along the Delta do not go to school. Some young people from the cities come to the delta on their school break in the summer and volunteer to teach the kids to read and write.
Many people left the delta and came to Saigon during the war because most of the fighting was done in the jungles and in the rural areas including the delta. From the 50’s until 1975 it just wasn’t safe along the river. First, came the war with the French and then the Americans who didn’t leave until the mid 1970’s. There are 85 million people in Vietnam and 8 ½ million of them live in Ho Chi Minh City, formally knows as Saigon.
We had a nice lunch and then returned to town in horrible traffic. I guess a lot of the people who come to HCMC to work go home on Sunday to visit their families in the delta. As we were coming back into the city thousands of people on motor scooters were also returning home, making the highway look like the start of the N.Y Marathon-scooters instead of runners. The whole family, mother, father and one or two kids would all be on one scooter. There were even a few mothers with infants in their arms. It was scary. Surprisingly we have only seen one accident since arriving.
We also stopped at one place and saw how they made rice and banana crackers. They were flat like a thin tortilla. We bought some made from bananas. Surprisingly, there was no high pressure, sales pitch. We also saw a man making puffed rice in a huge wok and others making cookie type things much like a rice crispy treat but with a slight taste of ginger. We also saw others making coconut candies that are cut by hand, and since they are sticky, they are wrapped in rice paper (that you eat with the candy) and then wrapped with waxed paper, overall. We were supposed to see how they make rice paper but they weren’t making any that day. Later on the boat tour we saw how bricks are made. A kiln is fired with the hulls that come off the rice. After the rice hulls are burned the ash is used as fertilizer in their gardens. They don’t waste anything. We noticed that all the work at the brick yard as at most other projects is done manually with little or no power equipment. The people are poor and lead a very simple life. They don’t make much money but they have most of their needs met by nature. The vegetation is very lush and many varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown. The river provides fish and people have their own chickens and ducks. The guide told us, that unfortunately the most children raised along the Delta do not go to school. Some young people from the cities come to the delta on their school break in the summer and volunteer to teach the kids to read and write.
Many people left the delta and came to Saigon during the war because most of the fighting was done in the jungles and in the rural areas including the delta. From the 50’s until 1975 it just wasn’t safe along the river. First, came the war with the French and then the Americans who didn’t leave until the mid 1970’s. There are 85 million people in Vietnam and 8 ½ million of them live in Ho Chi Minh City, formally knows as Saigon.
We had a nice lunch and then returned to town in horrible traffic. I guess a lot of the people who come to HCMC to work go home on Sunday to visit their families in the delta. As we were coming back into the city thousands of people on motor scooters were also returning home, making the highway look like the start of the N.Y Marathon-scooters instead of runners. The whole family, mother, father and one or two kids would all be on one scooter. There were even a few mothers with infants in their arms. It was scary. Surprisingly we have only seen one accident since arriving.
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