9.10.2010 - Second day of 3-day Mekong Delta Tour

Waking up at Can Tho city was a torture for Ryan. 5 am morning call, to catch the boat. The reason was, our highlight of the day was a boat ride to see the floating market in Phong Dien and Cai Rang. Cai Rang had the biggest floating market in the Mekong Delta. Phong Dien was a smaller floating market not far away. The floating markets started very early in the morning, about 5 am, and would be almost done by 9 am. So got to be early to catch the action.

We walked from our hotel to the nearby jetty to board a big boat.

Sleepy tourists on the big boat. River breeze was nice.

Waiting for daybreak while cruising along Mekong river.

A bit like Venice?

As the day brightened, we had a simple breakfast of French loaf with jam or cheese and bananas on the boat.

Scenes along the Mekong river...

A barge for river crossing.

Beauty.

And the beast.

"I want to sit ship", sounded almost like "I want to shee shee".

Our first destination was the Phong Dien floating market.

River transactions.

Quack quacks on a boat.

Trading bananas.

Anybody want to buy my bananas?

Boat loaded with coconuts.

A lady came near to our boat to sell pao. She got many customers, coz our free breakfast wasn't just enough. And it was just so cool to buy something off the river, from a traditional lady on a traditional boat.

We stopped somewhere along the river to visit a rice noodle factory. Not a real factory, more like a backyard industry kind of thing.

This was how rice noodle, the main ingredient of the ubiquitous pho, came about.

Firstly, grind rice into flour. Add tapioca flour at 1:10 ratio (a way to cut cost... tapioca much cheaper than rice ma). Mix with water into the right viscosity.

Spread onto a hot plate. Like how our Indian friends make thosai.

When it is cooked, flip out the sheet with a rattan roller. Alex the tour guide said nothing goes to waste in the countryside. Notice that they used rice husks to feed the fire. The ash would be used as fertilizer later.

Gracefully does it.

Spread a few sheets onto a rattan stretcher.

Put out to dry in the big oven outside. Pray that no bird droppings land on them.

Put the dried sheets thru a shredder. Walla, you get rice noodles. Watch that your hand don't become meat noodles.

After that we continued to visit the Cai Rang floating market. The sun was high already and it was getting hot.

Didn't need to shout to advertise your goods. The poles were for the traders to hang their goods for all to see from a distance.

Orang puteh enjoying the sunshine.

When it was done we headed back to the Can Tho jetty, and then to our hotel. Well, I didn't find the floating market particularly interesting. It was a wholesale market (trading bananas mainly), and our big boat didn't go really near to see the action up-close. The floating market in Bangkok was much more lively and interesting.

I had some free time before check-out. Some street shots of Can Tho city.

"Thanks to the gods for giving me a nice car."

"Thanks to the gods for giving me a nice body."

Spare parts street.

A Vietnamese wedding lunch reception. Very similar to Chinese style. Hey why wasn't the bride dressed in an ao dai.

Almost empty streets in mid noon, so unlike HCMC.

Around the Can Tho fresh market...

Fruit stall with gigantic durians.

The famous Vietnam rice. Alex told us that Vietnam was the second largest rice exporter in the world after Thailand. Reason was, Vietnamese couldn't work as hard as the Thais because Red Bull didn't set up factories in Vietnam. Ok, we were supposed to laugh at this part of the joke.

Vegetables.

Pork.

Bananas, again.

Apa lu tengok?

We left Can Tho at about 2 pm. Tourists who bought the 2-day tour went back to HCMC on the big bus. Us who bought the 3-day tour packed into a little van to go northwards to Chau Doc, the border town between Vietnam and Cambodia.

Sardines in a can. Ohh... van.

The tour made a brief stop at a crocodile farm.

"I miss the Crocodile Hunter."

Baby crocs.

Needed some help to peek inside.

We reached Chau Doc at almost 6 pm. Before going to our hotel, Alex brought us to visit a temple atop a hill. It was called Phuoc Dien temple. It took a long walk up the stairs to reach the temple.

The temple structure was quite nice. But we came here more for the view... Alex said we could see the border between Vietnam and Cambodia from the temple.

New extensions still in construction.

Monk at peace, lepakking.

I wondered which was the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

After a nice bath in the hotel, we walked around Chau Doc town to explore the streets.

There was a nice waterfront park where the locals hang out. Families with kids running loose... joggers... pak-tor couples...

Interesting Mickey Mouse rubbish bin.

Symbol of Chau Doc: a catfish statue.

From there we walked to the market to look for food. The market was closed by then, but there was a food square which was still open.

You guessed it. Noodle soup with sugarcane drinks.

The winds were blowing hard as we finished dinner. So quickly went back to the hotel, just in time before it started to rain heavily.