Sorry its taken me ages to get this up-to-date the internet connection was really slow in Vietnam and wouldnt load my page! But we are back in Singapore now, flew in early yesterday morning from Saigon, a few days here and then off too Melbourne tomorrow looking forward to seeing everyone there again as lots of our friends from Delta in Ayr where we did our farm work last yr are now living in Melbourne, reunion!
Well we got around to doing some cooking while we were back in Hoi An, went to a cooking class at one of the restaraunts we had dinner in a few times. It was really good fun, learnt to cook a few local dishes like spring rolls, fish in banana leaves, white rose (a little like dumplings) and also stir fryed squid. The fish was by far the best, we cooked whole Makeral that had been gutted and stuffed with a mix of garlic, shallots, lots of lemon and lemon grass. Then you wrapped it in Banana leaves, but you could use foil, and then bbq-ed it! So good! The spring rolls were actually really easy to make and we got to eat it all afterwards so we were stuffed!
From Hoi-an we head down the coast to Saigon, or can also been known as Hoi-chi-mihn city in honour of the previouse president who lef them through the war and revolutionised Vietnam. We went on a two day tour out of the city down South to the Mekong Delta.
The Mekong Delta was somewhere I didnt get to go and see last time I was here but it was brilliant to see. The Mekong River is the 5th largest river in the world and flows through, I think, 7 countries. It starts in China and ends at the Delta here in Vietnam, is strange to be back on the same river I was on only 2 months earlier in Laos! The trip was very well organized and we spent the first day on the river paddling through the mangrove and river coconut fringed cannals that flow between and around the four Islands that are situated between the lower ad upper river sections. We got to see coconut candy being made by hand and also tried lots of fresh tropical fruits along the way.
The second day we were up early to go and see the floating markets that are famouse in this region on the Delta. They are a common sight every day although they are getting smaller and smaller as more markets are being held on land, the advarntage of trading on the water still is that they dont have to pay and tax! We saw the 'middle man' in action on the river in their big wooden boats that are permanent fixtures on the river. The farmers come in their paddle boats early in the morning with their produce and sell it to the big boats at the market. These guys then sell the produce during the rest of the morning to people from the land. They put their fruit and veg that they are selling on big bamboo sticks that stand above their boats like flag poles!
It was a great way to see how the river is used by so many people and the different ways people get around it and use it. It is a life line to so many people, not only here in the Delta but all across East Asia.
