Sunrise was nice 😊
First we visited a little market for retail customers where they sold produce but there were also boats hawking coffee and snacks.
Due to the low tide and being Monday there weren’t as many boats as usually. But also the improved roads have led to a decline of the whole floating market business as nowadays scooter and trucks are used for distribution.
After this we toured through the little canals which was tricky due to the low water level.
We could feel the boat touching the ground sometimes
Greenery
Preparing fish traps
Growing/catching water hyacinth
Living at the waters edge
Spreading
Placing
Drying
Trying to tear apart 😁
By adding some different ingredients the color can be changed but all taste the same.
But first we got some breakfast, Ban Mih, Vietnamese sandwich 😋
Lekker
Snack boat
Pumpkin ship
Watermelon ship
Turnip ship
We then boarded a ship full of pineapples to have a bite.
Carving out the pineapple eyes
Chilling
Final stop was at a garden with lots of plants and some snail and fish ponds.Rose apple, eaten with chili and salt 😋
Right next to it was a huge windowless building like we have seen often before but couldn’t figure out what it was. Our guide explained that it is a swallows nest farm, with the loudspeaker on top emitting fake swallows cries to attract the birds. They then nest inside which in turn get collected (the nests made from swallows spit, not the birds!) and are considered a delicacy 🤷♂️
Swallows nest farm
Living fish on a stick 😳
It was a nice tour even though the many pieces of trash in the river were a sad sight 😔 But the people don’t seem to learn, our boat had its propeller stuck four times by plastic bags and the captain each time threw it back in the water after untangling it!?! WTF 🤦♂️🤷♂️
That was it, we thanked our guide and headed further up the Mekong delta, by motorbike 😉
Safety first