We woke up around 5:30am, Mom read her book and I worked on the blog that frustrated me so much yesterday. We went for breakfast at 7:00am, ate too much again (same same, croissant with pineapple jam, bacon and fruit)
At 8:45am we got on the sampan to go to a family run business that makes things out of rice and coconut. It's a very nice temperature this morning. I said to Binh, "how lucky are we to not have been rained on this week?". He said this time of year isn't very rainy actually that usually it might rain for an hour a day whereas the group he took through 4 weeks ago they had heavy rain every day for hours "and you know it's really hard to have guests who are happy when they are wet all day"
On the way over Nam told us about the floating fishing farms. He said each structure is about 55-60' long, 18' wide and 8' deep. They feed the fish pellets twice a day. The fish, mostly red tilapia, take 3-5 months to mature so a family might have between 1-10 fish farm structures so that they have rotating income which they earn by taking the fish to a market or fish factory. They essentially have as many structures as they can afford. Now they need permission from the council of the community to have a structure or to add one.
These people are negotiating the price of fish likely and the fish farmer will fillet for the buyer and then they'll grind the bones, fins and everything to use for fertilizer. There is very little wasted here, they often use all of the components in different ways.
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This is the first gas station I've noticed.
I saw another one later in the day.
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The place where we are going now is a business all run by family. Every family member works here and has a job.
First we watched a woman making rice paper. She uses the rice husk to burn and fuel the heat under the drum, she dumps 30-40ml of a rice slurry onto the drum and covers it with a bamboo conical cover where it steams for 25 second, then she takes a rod and gets under the rice paper. After this process it will dry in the sun for 2-5 hours to harden into the rice paper sheets that we are familiar with to make fresh spring rolls.
Next we went over to a rice wine distilling area. The snake wine is used a lot by farmers, especially those who are older, who after a hard day working in the fields have sore muscles and need to relax. Nam's father used to drink it he called it a "men's power drink". He said this is "100% snake, real snake" as he was holding up a dead snake with tongs he pulled out of a barrel. Like what else would it be but 100% snake?
After this we watched them pop rice. For popping they're using rice grains that have been harvested after 3 months. Again, they burn the rice husk to heat the bowl which is filled with black sand. Then they add 300g of rice grains to the bowl and it pops quickly as he mixes it with the sand, then the had sieves that separate the popped rice from the sand.
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| Rice Grain |
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| Black Sand |
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| Rice puffs |
The next station over a mixture was being stirred of caramelized bitter melon flesh (rich in Vitamin A), peanuts, malt coconut milk and sugar. Once it's been cooked for 10 minutes and reaches the right consistency they mix in the popped rice to make like a rice krispie treat. We tried it fresh, it was really good.
They then put it into a mold and used heavy rolling pins to compact the rice into the mold and then cut it manually into squares which then were transferred onto a table surface for someone to pack into plastic and someone else to seal (which she just sealed it with a flame).
Then we went to see them make coconut candies. Coconut candies are very popular in Vietnam, they're like a soft caramel but made with coconut milk. A young coconut (7 months old) is what you usually get when you're drinking coconut water. These are made from 1 year old coconuts and the water then gets a little too bitter. This is another example of nothing going to waste. They shred the coconut flesh and then squeeze it to get out all of the moisture (milk). They stir the coconut milk, mixed with chocolate to sweeten it, for 1 hour gently until it becomes sticky like toffee. Then they put it in a mold, cut it in pieces and wrap it in a thin rice paper (which won't stick to the toffee and is edible) and then paper.
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| We tried the candies on the green plate, it was very subtle coconut caramel |
Finally we were sat down with a variety of treats to sample and given some jasmine tea. There was black sesame treats, candied ginger (very sweet), dried banana with a sugar seasoning, some popped rice treats, a little corn looking snack that was salty (like a non cheesy cheese-it). I tried the banana and Gina said "What is that one?" It's banana "Oh, ok" I know, I said, it could be banana, it could be fish, you don't want to take your chances right?
We had an opportunity to support the Vietnam economy again with their expansive gift shop. I said to Mom "these look like what you would buy in Costa Rica that say 'made in Vietnam'" She checked the bottom, it didn't say anything, lol.
We didn't buy anything but lots of people have done lots of supporting of the Vietnam and Cambodian economy this trip, some even buying extra luggage to go home.
The sky is looking grey and miserable so we're thankful to have gotten to the ship staying dry - Nam said "that's a water bomb cloud".
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| We never did really get any rain. |
We don't plan on going to the excursion this afternoon anyway (which is another village visit but all out in the sun) and it will be nice to have the afternoon free. We get off the ship tomorrow so this is the last excursion on the river here and it's been interesting for sure but I'm ready to get off the boat. I quickly got changed and then went down and both laundry machines were free so I'm going to Saigon with all clean and dry clothes! I did my travelling home outfit too even though I only wore it for travelling here.
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| Non Beer with an Orange Slice. |
Mom came in from her shower and Gina said "You always have a smile on your face" and Mom leaned over to her as she walked by and said "well my resting face isn't very nice" lol.
I overheard about a passenger who was really sick, her husband was asking Binh about making arrangements for a private transfer to Ho Chi Minh and early check in at the hotel. It reminded me that Jackie wanted to know about the antibiotic that I was prescribed for travellers diarrhea if I get it and so when I went back to the room I grabbed it to show her. For Africa I was prescribed Cipro and I did have to take it (and it worked wonders) but they didn't want to give me another heavy duty Cipro prescription this time because you don't want to become resistant to it. I heard the passenger say that his daughter-in-law and son are both doctors and so got her an antibiotic. Later I saw the daughter-in-law at the pool and told her I do have Azithromycin if she needs it (and I heard she was a doctor or I wouldn't mention it!). She thanked me but said that she did have what they needed now, they got it in the city yesterday.
I had set the alarm for the laundry to be ready to come out of the dryer and when I got down there Cheryl was waiting and said "I knew you would have a timer, it just stopped", she was waiting to put her stuff in the machine behind me.
I went up to the top deck shorty after this to sit outside while Mom went to the room. The chairs in the lounge aren't super comfortable but our room doesn't really have a good place to sit either so more than anything I just wanted the lounger. I did change into my swimsuit but it's grey skies and slightly cool (probably 30 degrees, lol), I can hear thunder but not see any lightening and while it did rain very lightly and very briefly we never did get a downpour.
Mary came over and said she had a nice photo of Mom and I so sent it to me
About an hour before Binh's evening briefing I went back to the room to change and start to pack up our bags. We leave tomorrow morning bright and early for Ho Chi Minh (Siagon). As we were packing Mom said "I don't understand people who think they can't pack just in carry-on" and I said most of the time I think it's the shoes - Carol said she has 9 pairs, Timi said she had 6 pairs, Jackie had 5 pairs, I know Jo has at least 5 pairs because she has 2 pairs of nearly identical wedge dress shoes plus her birks and 2 pair of runners. When we got up to the lounge later as we were walking in I was wearing a scarf I bought, a nice crochet top, green capri linen pants and the white slide sandals provided by the hotel as slippers, lol. I said to Mom "not everyone would wear the provided slippers to dinner". But I'm also not the only one!
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We ordered drinks and at one point Carol said "don't mention champagne" they had done the champagne pairing at the Embassy restaurant dinner in Siem Reap. So they drank 3 glasses before they left, then had a little flight of champagne when they got there and then did the pairing menu (for 8 courses). I said "How did you feel the next morning on the long bus ride to the ship?" "Like Crap." haha. They're from Kentucky so say things like "bless her heart".
Mary's friend Jo came up to me in the lounge and asked for the extra Tylenol that I had told Mary I found in my purse. She thanked me profusely and really appreciated it because she can't take NSAIDs like Advil and Aleve. I'm not supposed to take them either which is why I have Tylenol.
I told Carol and Jackie about not ordering alcohol on the ship and how they went out of their way twice to pick up more non-alcoholic beer for me. I said I used to "drink a lot, like socially - like enough that when I went to the doctor and they asked how much alcohol I drank a week I would lie". Everyone there lies too and I'm sure Drs know you lie and just double what you say. haha. Now I can count on both hands the times I've drank since February but I do still enjoy a drink every now and then!
After Binh's briefing about what to expect for checking out tomorrow and the travel to Saigon the staff (50 of the 53 staff) were introduced and then some of the staff did 2 traditional Vietnamese line dances for us in a performance. Then they invited us to join them to dance. Daneth, who is our room attendant, tried to get us to get up and dance with her but we declined. Mom said "I hated to say no to her but I hated to dance even more". lol
Dinner was good - I had a fresh springroll, the traditional beef broth soup, a stewed pork with rice and then baked Alaska which I've never had before but Carol and Jackie say is a cruise staple.
We said goodnight, packed up the rest of our stuff so we're ready to roll in the morning and went to bed.
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