Day 3 (15 March 2012) My Tho

The brochure says: After breakfast, a two hour drive to My Tho will 

expose the colorful outskirt life as well as picturesque rice fields along the

journey. Upon arrival, get on a boat trip up Mekong River 

with islet stop at Thoi Son to taste seasonal fruits, enjoy

traditional folk songs. Then visit the authentic life of the locals

and challenge your bargaining power at cottage handicraft shops.

An adventurous sampan ride in palm shading creeks will the next experience

of the riverside region. Lunch to be served with the Mekong Delta specialty Deep Fried Elephant

ear fish (next post) then back to city to visit chinatown, and a temple.

We are getting out of the city, towards the outskirts and the motorbikes are decreasing.

We drove past lots of padi fields, and strange sights greeted us: tombstones right in the
middle of the field, like in Guangzhou.

Lone tombs smack in the middle of the field.  They were born here, grew up tending the
farms and died on the farm, now they are buried here, at Death, still tending the farms.

We make a pit-stop at the Mekong Reststop where the guide calls the toilets the "Happy Place!!!

And what a beautiful rest stop this is, full of landscaped flora and fauna to keep shutterbugs happy.

Then we reached the jetty, clevery disguised as a houseboat.

You have to walk through the houseboat to get to where the boats are moored.

We love to pose.........he loves to point and shoot.

Our boat and the boatman ready to take us to the islands.

Our guide is quite the gallant gentleman.

Chivalry is not dead, yet.

Islet stop at Thoi Son to taste seasonal fruits and enjoy folk songs.

Lots of shady trees and nipah roofed huts on the islet.

Challenge your haggling skills

challenge you balancing skills

Fruits everywhere

First stop: a bee apiary.

Note his deadpan expression: he is trying to 

fool the bees into thinking he is their ally.

so they will not stage a coup de tat and sting him.

I forgot to look deadpan: I broke into a grin for the camera.

Next, we are brought to this hut for royal
jelly tasting

Hot honey tea will be served to us

homemade rice wine in his hands

freshly squeezed lime and jasmine tea

Tit bits which you can buy

ginger snaps, peanut brittle, banana crisps, coconuts twirls and

I forgot what the round one was.

Buxom girl is spooning out equal parts of honey and royal jelly

unprocessed royal jelly which you can buy and bring home

A spoonful of the potent stuff will knock you back a few years (she will become a baby!!)

Look Ma, No Hands!!!!

Is it a boy or girl? (He actually asked this question!!!!)

Buying balancing dragonflies and bracelets

Lots of American tourists

Next to them we look so Vietnamese!!!

This is called seasonal fruits for you to sample

with live entertainment of local and folksy traditional songs where they do a rotation of every table

My little Viet girl

My wannabe Vietcong

How the locals dry their laundry

We walk again through the picturesque quaint islet village

some of them are actually quite affluent

and filial, for they keep their dearly departed in their own compound next to them

Romantic rooster and hen going for early morning stroll, minus their brood

Resting by the many streams which reminds me of my carefree childhood days, before the relentless march of highways.

I am fascinated by their hammock culture

The three of us jumped into one each and had a swinging time

He did not experience a sarong or buaian (swinging cradle) babyhood, so he is making up for lost time.

We have reached the coconut candy factory, and Trien is showing us how coconut is skinned

These girls wrap candy in rice paper almost as fast as conveyor belt machines

the mold for measuring and cutting the candy

Now for the highlight of this part of the trip: a sampan ride down narrow palm fringed creeks

We are provided with Vietnamese straw hats and two row men, or row women or row PERSONS each.

Women power

I think I like the Pagsanjan ride in Philippines is better: more exciting and death defying, rocky and challenging! At the end of it you are rewarded with a view of the Pagsanjan waterfalls!!

Nonetheless, it was safe, smooth, and extremely pleasant to float down the creek

Methinks I was floating down the canals of Venice in a gondola.

Vietnamese girl rowing the boat...

wait a minute,

it is my daughter, as Malaysian as you can get.

Malaysian girl rowing effortlessly down the river

Vietnamese woman muscling and rowing up the river.

This picture is stolen from the web, as you can see, it is taken from the top.

This picture is not stolen from anywhere, you can see my finger up there.

All waiting to disembark

Our boatman is waiting to take us back: Lunchtime!

No sign of our gallant gentleman, so we hop on to the boat ourselves, it is perfectly safe.  Next stop: Lunch on the Mekong River.