OMG they grow corn

Up bright and early today - 5 am to be exact.  Couldn't get back to sleep so the boys and I hit the pool at 6am for a pre breakfast swim.  The traffic was really just starting to get noisy so it was a great backdrop.  Buffet breakfast then it was off to our Mekong Delta day trip.

Our driver was Mr Phoung and our guide was Duan.  It took just over an hour to get out of the city, and considering that were right on the outskirts that's a lot.  We got onto highway 1 which is a motorbike free zone so it was suddenly like a ghost town.  We got to see many strange things as you usually expect to see in a foreign country.  Like the snackman...

 

We crossed paths with a Buddhist funeral (cremation) which was bright and colourful, and then we got to talking about city vs country.  In the city when you die you're going to be cremated.  Obviously land is at a premium here.  Our guide told us that when you live in the country you re allowed to be buried so most people bury their beloved in the rice paddies.  I of course imagined the amount of fertilizer they provided to the rice, and actually didn't think he was serious at all. Until we saw the rice fields - complete with tombstones (see far right on the pic below)

A bit farther down the road we got to learn about all the crops that are produced here and of course the one that got the biggest response was the corn.  Yep they have corn here and a lot of it.  I guess they must export it to Thailand (do they even know what corn is?  lol)
We went on to My Tho (pronounced me th - o) and boarded a boat for a ride to a little island in the middle of the Mekong river. 

Here we took a tour of a coconut candy factory and saw them making the rice paper (aka the stuff you wrap cold rolls in).  Next stop was a horse and cart ride to a quaint little cafe for fruit, honey tea and some traditional music.  Ive kinda put the horse and cart ride out of mind because 4 large white people, Nate and the tour guide do not really go so well with a skinny old grumpy horse.  When the horse nearly collapsed we demanded to get out and walk - would have been to traumatizing to explain to Nate why they had to kill the horse...

After the little break we were mobile again, this time on a 'paddle boat".  Was a nice slow pace to take in the natural growth, including lizards and dragonfly's.

Lunch was next, a 5 course delight of Vietnamese food.  The look on Dads face was priceless when the first course arrived.

The fish was turned into fresh rolls with cucumber and rice paper wrappers.  It was followed with river prawns, a chicken noodle soup, a seafood pancake, fried spring rolls with fried rice and jasmine tea with dried coconut bread.  All in all yummy.

We were then homeward bound, and stopped in Chinatown at an ancient temple that was originally on tomorrows agenda.

We decided on a light dinner of canapes and alcohol in the executive lounge.  We met a pair of fellow Aussies who had literally just arrived in Vietnam and seemed to be kinda terrified...lol