DAY 14 (continued from Ho Chi Minh City 2.0) - Valerie, Michel, and I take a day trip to the Mekong Delta, boarding a boat (not the one pictured) in Cái Bè
Our guide welcomes us aboard
These boats have eyes
This boat appears to be carrying turnips
According to our guide, you can tell what produce boats are selling by what they display on their poles...in this case, pumpkins
A boat loaded with rambutan passes us
This boat is not selling shirts...boat vendors also use their poles to air dry their laundry
Cái Bè Church
Our boat turns away from this action
At our first stop, we watch ladies wrapping freshly made coconut candy...and we get to enjoy some samples
Rice paper drying on bamboo...not just for spring rolls
Rice paper drying on bamboo...here they use them to create an edible wrapper for the coconut candy (so it doesn't stick to the plastic wrapper)
A scavenging puppy finds a fallen sample
Popping rice like popcorn
Stirring the pot
Puffed rice
After pouring freshly popped rice on the table, they spread it around to even it out
Cutting puffed rice into rectangular blocks
Wrapping puffed rice
Puffed rice in the palm of our guide's hand
The puppy begs from a tourist
Back on the boat
Our guide presents a plate of fruit grown on the delta including those mini-bananas we love so much, lychee, and chôm chôm (rambutan).
She encourages everyone to sample the fruit (like our arms need twisting)
We are heading back the way we came
Another boat loaded with rambutan
We pass a ferry
A boat transporting plants is hard to spot...it blends in with the surroundings
After passing near the port where we originally boarded, our boat crosses a wider section of the Mekong River
We reach the opposite shore
The guy wearing the "True Love" cap looks like he has been excluded from (or wants no part of) this conversation
Life on the Mekong
We pass a guy hauling mud in his boat
His boat looks dangerously close to taking on water
Our boat enters a narrow canal
Boats parked along the edge of the canal (and, if you look closely, you may see a scooter through the trees)
A girl wearing an ao dai rides her bike home from school along a path overlooking the canal
I am not sure what these guys are doing with these muddy logs, but they are pulling them out of the river
Vietnamese boat captains play chicken. Their boat looks bigger. We shall not pass.
Working in the water does not look particularly fun
That boat squeezes by us, barely fitting under the bridge
We have seen bicycles and scooters going over bridges like these, but none go over this one before our boat passes under it
We emerge from the canal
Is this guy taking her order or writing a ticket?
Once again we start across the Mekong River, but I have no idea where we are going
