2nd day in vietnam!

woke up early today. 6.30? around there. got changed and left the house around 7 plus. went for breakfast. it is so filling! it was like a kind of noodles. with fish and alll. i forgot the name for it. went with parents and lao gu. the rest were still in the apartment. we sat there till about 8 then went to a shop to wait for the bus to pick my parents and i up.

we took the bus with 42 other people, making it 45 people in total plus a tour guide. it was a 2 hour long journey... we were going to the mekong delta(or mekong river). the bus ride was just boring. slept on the bus as i slept late last night and was tired. the tour guide talked a bit about the programme. but it was hard to understand his English. the group of us came from a lot of different countries. there was another group of singaporeans, a group of taiwanese, people from finland, france, germany and also japanese. so it was a mixture!

we finally reached the mekong delta. sat on this boat on the mekong delta. first we went up and down a part of the mekong delta. then we stopped at one of the 4 islands there. the other 3 islands are not for visitors to visit i think.

our first stop was the rice paper making place. they used rice mixed with water and grind it with a type of stone thing. it becomes a liquid. then they spread it out on a 'boiler' for about 45 seconds to a minute. they take it out and dry it under the hot sun. and that makes the rice paper! (its edible- actually, its for people to eat) the tour guide explained it to use then we had free time to try the rice paper and buy it if we wanted. my parents and i didn't buy it.

the next stop was to see the coconut shells being made into different items like spoons, forks etc. it was nice to see it. we could also buy the stuff there but we didn't. then at the same place, we had lunch. 4 dogs joined us, going from table to table. 2 black, 2 brown and 2 male, 2 female. our lunch was rice, something that looked like bbq pork and some fried popiah.... tasted great! although it was a simple meal. then we had free time to walk around the area. i walked and slipped on mud! was careless. (note: it was raining before and during the time we were there so the mud was very wet). we then made our way back to the boat.

we went to another part of the island. while we were on the boat, the engine died halfway and we had to wait for another boat and transfered to the other boat. we drove through a smaller so called stream where there were a lot of mangrove plants and trees. we reached our destination.... we walked inland and came to this place where they served us free fruit. the types of fruit that were found on the island. there was also a performance for us. they sang and played songs..... songs that were native to the mekong islands. the ancesters made these songs and sung them after their day of hard farming in the olden days. we were asked to give them tips. then had time to look around at the souvenirs but we didn't buy any.

walked out of the place and sat a horse cart. the horse was kind of small. but it could pull a cart with its driver and 6 other people. there were 6 of us in each cart. the ride was fun! but the horse had blinkers on... it was kind of sad. any way, we soon reached our destination.

it is a bee farm. we had a taste of bee honey(obviously its bee honey!) and we could actually see the bee hives. i didn't touch the bee hives but we could. and there were bees flying around. well, they are honey bees so i think they can be harmless to us... i don't know if they can still sting us... i think they can't. any way, the honey tasted nice. there was also a cage with two snakes in it. long snakes!

we countinued walking. we came to another part of the mekong river. it was shallower and narrower. we took a rowing boat! it was 4 to a rowing boat with the owner of the boat. but my parents and i sat with the two people folllowing the tour guides. it was so fun on the rowing boat! my dad rowed with the owner of the boat and we overtook the boat in front of us. we passed many mangrove trees and all again! it was mostly trees that we saw. then we reached the mouth of the small river where our bigger boat was waiting for us.

we sat on the boat and travelled to another part of the island. this time it was to see coconut sweets being made. it is different from the chinese new year type of coconut sweets. its softer and more chewable. it is also a little sweeter. we had time to buy the sweets. but i bought some other stuff instead. they sold hand made items which was quite nice!

we took the boat back to where we started off. then took the same bus back to the shop! it was another 2 hour(well, more cos of the traffic jam) journey. read a bit on the bus then slept again. finally reached the shop. got off the boat and tried to call auntie but the call could not get through. finally it did and the driver came to pick us up.

we went back to the apartment and bathed and changed. we got ready to go for dinner. grandma, aunt, parents and i went to this seafood shop for dinner. met uncle and lao gu there. the seafood was soo good! first time in a long time that i ate both prawns and crab in the same meal. usually i'll eat only one even though there is always both the dishes. show how nice it is. any way, dinner was a great meal.

after dinner went to the night market. bought some stuff. aunt bargained with the shopkeeper on some table cloths. it was 150,000 doung for one at first(about $15 in singapore). she finally got it to 43,000(or 4.30 in sing dollars) for a set of 5. wow!!!!! haha, we bought like 18 sets! all for dad and mum's friends and collegues or aunt. we then went back to the resturant.

right now, i am using the comp while my family is eating durian! well, pics will be when i get back. cos cannot connect the camera to the comp now since i didn't bring the cable with me!