Liz: On our second last day in Vietnam we joined in with 6 others and took a 2 hr mini bus trip to the Mekong Delta. We transferred from bus to boat (yeah another boat trip. I love my boat trips, but this would be our last one) and navigated up the mighty Mekong, observing the locals go about their daily lives on and beside the river, and stopping to watch the making of ‘popped rice’ (tasted like ‘rice bubbles’), sugar cane into blocks of caramelised sugar, the individual manual wrapping of sesame and nut candy into squares and the brewing of rice wine (that’s 40% alcohol, tasted like it to).
Lunch was at a ‘french villa’ tucked away in lush gardens beside the Mekong. Lunch included elephant ear fish with curly carrot stuffed in its mouth as decoration (see photos). We think we spotted an ABC journalist also having lunch – Paul Barry. Our group consisted of all Aussies – a family of 4 from Sydney and a couple from Rockhampton. There seems to be many Aussies here. I haven’t heard too many American accents. I wonder why that is?!
After a swim and recuperation time back at the hotel we ventured out to find another Vietnamese restaurant for our last night in Vietnam. The highlight of the evening was not so much the food, but who walked into the restaurant as I was devouring my lemongrass and chicken dish –Margaret, a colleague from work. I knew she was in Vietnam but we never thought our paths would actually cross. Of all the “jin joints in Saigon”, as they say, she happened to walk into our restaurant. Couldn’t believe it.
Back to the hotel for another night of falling asleep listening to the honking bikes and cars on the streets of Saigon.
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- Baked Elephant ear fish Villa Restaurant on Mekong Delta Saigon
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- Making ‘pop rice’ Mekong Delta Saigon
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- Liz doing the shopping
