This photo is to prove that I was out and about pre-sunrise ready for our day on the Mekong Delta, Matt was very impressed.
The day started at 5am so that we could reach the first floating market by sunrise. It was beautiful heading up the river in darkness with only the hum of boats in the background. As the light began to rise, so did the activity and noise levels and pretty soon we were surrounded by a multitude of boats scurrying up and down the river.
The market is amazing, the biggest in the area supplying hotels, restaurants and only dealing in bulk. The boats are awash with every kind of exotic fruit and vegetable plus a few of the more common varieties like cabbage, carrots and onions. The boats signal their wares by 'flying' a specimen of each from the top of their mast making it clearly visible to all and sundry. I'm glad to say the same isn't done with the meat on offer!
Arrival at the market also means breakfast is imminent! We pull over to the local 'Pho' man who sells two types of the native noodle soup, one with fine glass noodles and one with thicker rice noodles. We each choose a different kind and the man potters away, boiling, spooning and adding all sorts of things until finally he hands us massive, steaming bowls.
Ca, our guide for the day, made us a make shift table and we all tuck in. Poor Ca had to endure a few splatters coming from across the table but he didn't mind. The Pho was lovely although a few of the items were a little hard to stomach, particularly at that time in the morning. In particular the oblongs of firm, yellow, jellyish substance were just not going down, this turned out to be pig skin, hmmm yum!
Breakfast over and we continued through the market, I grabbed a coffee from a local boat seller as we went. This stuff was thick and so strong it stuck to the cup like soup, I managed half a cup before discreetly tipping the remainder into the river, the Pho and coffee were not working well together!
After the market we made our way up a canal to visit a fruit farm and then on to see rice noodles being made. The canal was so peaceful after the busy river, the scenery beautiful and we were the only boat making it even more special.
Eventually we met oncoming traffic!
Here is our boat woman posing for a photo after we'd visited the fruit farm.
The rice noodle making process was amazing. The place we visited were the major manufacturers and distributors in the area, you'd imagine a sweat box environment with row upon row of workers. Wrong, this was a little family run business, about 10 people in total each with their own jobs. A couple of people making the rice 'batter', another couple making the 'pancakes', a few carrying the finished product in and out of the drying room (basically outside) and the last couple checking and cutting. This family produces noodles every day of the year except 5 days at Chinese New Year and sell millions of them.
Our boat woman was multi-talented, not only did she sail/drive us around all day through some really hectic traffic but she made a multitude of beautiful objects out of banana leaf fronds. The following was a posey of roses with a family of grasshoppers, brilliant.
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