We
had an early start today for our trip down through the Mekong Delta
and across into Cambodia. We have had a really good few days with
Tim and Erica. They have truly made us feel at home and their
hospitality has been superb. We said our farewells to Erica and then
set off into town with Tim. Cuong dropped Tim off at work and then
took us round to the Sinh Café. We both chuckled at the irony of
being dropped off at a cheap backpackers tour agency in a chauffer
driven expat car. We tried to persuade Cuong to come with us through
Cambodia and down to Malaysia but he declined. It did though break a
smile across his face and almost got him talking, something he
doesn’t really do.
There were about thirty people on the bus so it was pretty
full when we left. Our guide Trung was very friendly and
professional and chatted away as we left HCMC pointing out local
sights. Tim and Erica had told us that HCMC was a sprawling city
that stretched out for miles and they weren’t joking.
Our first stop was at Cai Be where there is a small floating
market. Our boat to see it was an old cargo ship now converted for
tourists with bench seats inside. There were lots of other tourist
boats around and soon we were waving at each other across the water.
The market here was now winding down because it was late in the
morning but it is a small taster in advance of the main floating
market at Cai Rang which we will see tomorrow.
The market boats are very heavily laden with wares and with
some the water was close to pouring in over the sides of the boat.
Most boats had a large pole, similar to a flag pole, hoisted in the
middle of their boats with a sample of their wares flying rather
than a flag. This makes it easy for people to pick out who they want
to go to. The locals use land based analogies to describe the boats
here. We were in a “bus”, the cargo boats were “trucks” and the
small boats that darted in and out everywhere were either “bikes” if
they had no engine or “motorcycles” if they did have an engine. Most
of the larger boats had eyes painted onto the front, a good luck
omen as they extra set of eyes were good for fishing. The bikes were
propelled along by an oarsman (actually usually a woman) standing at
the back and using two long oars in a very ungainly way to propel
them forward. As with land based traffic the boats here all seemed
to be heavily laden with people and their wares.
We toured around the river for a while and then pulled up at
the first real touristy stop on the “tour” and hence the first of
many retail opportunities. A local speciality here is coconut candy.
The coconut flesh is grated and then crushed to extract the juice.
This is boiled until it makes a toffee like candy. Bananas, cocoa,
coffee and other ingredients can be added to give the sweets a
different flavour. The toffee paste is spread out onto a board which
has channels cut into it that makes strips of candy. The strips are
cut up into individual pieces which are then wrapped up first in
edible rice paper and then in a coloured paper wrapping. The lady
wrapping the sweets had incredibly dextrous fingers and she was
speedily wrapping away. Tasters were handed out all around in the
hope that at least some people would buy some of the sweets. It was
pretty sweet stuff but actually not too bad.
The next stop was at a place making rice paper. I suppose I
hadn’t really thought about it much but rice paper comes in all
sorts of shapes, sizes, thicknesses and tastes. Again tasters were
handed out and we tried some that were very sweet, almost like
crunchy crepes, and others that had slices of banana mixed in (a
rice based version of that backpacker speciality the “banana
pancake”).
Traditional music
Around the corner we then saw how they made popped rice, like
the stuff you get in Rice Krispies cereals. Sand is taken from the
bottom of the Mekong River and is heated through in a big wok until
it has turned black and is very hot (killing off any bugs and
harmful stuff along the way). Rice is thrown into the wok and is
mixed in with the sand. The heat of the sand then makes the rice pop
which only takes a few seconds. The rice is then sifted over the wok
to separate out the sand and it then sifted again to separate the
rice husks from the popped grains.
The rice grains are then used to make sweets. Coconut milk,
chopped fresh ginger, caramel and Vietnamese sugar are heated
together in a large wok until it makes a runny toffee type
consistency. The popped rice is then added in to the pan and mixed
around until it is all coated with the toffee. A wooden mold stands
on a table next to the wok and the mixture is poured in and rolled
out until it fills the mold. A large cutter is then used to cut the
mix into strips and then smaller squares which are packed up and
shipped of to market to be sold. Both of the fires were fuelled by
the shells of Logan nuts. These are a cheap and abundant source of
fuel and create good heat. The ashes make good fertiliser and are
used around the local trees.
It was then back in the boat for a forty five minute trip down
river to where we stopped for lunch. The river bank was a mix of
large open spaces with tropical greenery and small villages. The
village houses are built on stilts on the river and they flood
during the rainy season and at high tides. All the houses have mains
electricity, and from the look of the number of aerials they all
have TV’s also, but they don’t have running water. All of their
water is pulled directly from the river and is boiled before it is
used for cooking. Not great considering that there are no sewers
either apart from the river.
For lunch we stopped at a place in a small canal off the main
river. It was totally geared to tourists with one menu option which
was whatever they were dishing out that day. The food was all dished
out in the kitchen and you simply had a plate plonked down in front
of you. It was spring rolls, rice, vegetables and pork but with very
little flavour and a long way removed from the “typical" lunch we
were expecting. Soup was served up at the same time and a huge plate
of fruit turned up for dessert. Stef had an added bonus in his lunch
– a nice juicy maggot!
After lunch the people running the restaurant put on a brief
performance of local music. It was very similar to the music we had
heard in China and the north of Vietnam. Two guys were playing
instruments. One was like a guitar but with only five strings and
frets carved like steps in the neck. The other had a banjo like
instrument. A woman and a young girl, she could have been no more
than eight years old, provided the vocals.
After lunch we had another fifteen minutes on the boat before
we were herded back onto the bus. We drove for about forty five
minutes to somewhere where we had to get a ferry. We all had to
troop off the bus and sit in a waiting room for our crossing. The
room was open sided and had dry ice blowing out with the fans but as
it was also the waiting area for the scooters, none of whom turned
off their engine, it was a pretty noisy and smelly place to be. The
wait wasn’t really too long and we trooped down to sit on the ferry
for the short river crossing to Can Tho our destination for the
night.
At Can Tho it was a short hop by bus to the hotel, which
seemed to be outside of the main part of town. We divided and
conquered with me hitting the front of the queue for check in while
Stef got our bags. It turned out to be a good ploy as we got a room
at the front of the hotel which had a window whereas we later found
out that most rooms were windowless. Even though we didn’t really
stand and look out of it, a room without a view, no matter how good
or bad the view is, is just not the same.
The hotel is our first one star hotel and it is very different
to the luxury we have had over the last week or so in Hoi An and
with Tim and Erica. Our room was very simple but it was clean and
comfortable. The only downside was that it was on the 4th
floor and there was no lift. It’s amazing how heavy our bags start
to feel after a few stairs. Hot and tired we had a cooling shower
and then chilled for a while before heading out to find somewhere to
eat.
Trung had offered to show people a few options for dinner but
by the time we made it downstairs he was long gone so we were left
to our own devices. We weren’t entirely sure where we were in town
but set out with me making careful mental notes of where we’d gone
so that we could find our way back. After a couple of left turns at
main roads we came across a large restaurant that looked very
hopeful as it was a choice of this or dodgy looking street food. We
had a very tasty meal and I think the staff had a bit of a chuckle
at having a couple of foreigners in for the night, we were the only
non locals there.
