Huong Duong Hotel My Tho

... had to drink the blood of the snake which they had mixed with rice wine in a little shot glass!! And Kevin and Tom had the pleasure of sharing the gall bladder and heart. Each one had one placed in their shot glass and they had to down it. And believe me I am not exagerating this one bit!! In the end the snake itslef was really good to eat!<br><br>So that's our latest escapade!! And the building goes on!!

... Photos where taken and then we got to work to dismantle the existing house. It is basically a 4 x 8 m , one storey brick building. The previous house had wooden beams and iron sheeting as interior walls so we tore it all down and are putting up bricks and concrete. <br><br>So as we start tearing away of course the owners are not the only inhabitants in this wonderful strucuture...the woodlice come out...the lizards...and of course my favourite ...

... to show us his home and brought out a much water-stained and dilapidated book of French pictures, sent to him by the same woman who'd mailed him her letter in 1994. He explained that during the rainy season it is very hard to keep anything dry, which was quite apparent. <br><br>Subdued, we made our way back to the luxury sampan and sailed a short way before again stopping, this time at a brick-making factory. Women, men and children toiled unceasingly. First, clay chunks were fed into a ...

... such as the slippers provided for us on our sampan trip. This is just one example of the ingenuity of the delta people. Nothing is wasted.<br><br>Our first stop was a visit to the gardens of an ancient house. As soon as we began our stroll, Lan was busy plucking flowers and leaves off the shrubs and trees for us to smell and taste. I lost count of the many things he was telling us about the different species, although I can definitely say that young tamarind leaves are ...

... for a bus to get us to Can Tho further into the Mekong Delta. We paid for the bus in the morning which included a bike ride to the bus stop.. well the bike riders were given money who inturned handed over some to a guy at the stop and his only job was to stop the bus on the road who handed over some more of our money to the bus man.. and all the while I am looking at this and seeing how much is being handed over and thinking...feckers. but it ...

... 8211; we tried durian fruit flavour, which was erm interesting!). The sweet factory also made coconut toffees which were very scrumptious.<br><br>Along the river there were also a lot of brick works, as they use the clay from the river bed to make bricks and other ceramics. They get commissions from abroad to make all the weird and wonderful things you can buy in garden centres, such as cats, pumpkins, frogs, as well as the flower pots ...

... etc. It took around 20 minutes to get there because it&#8217;s not quite near where the city was. I was on the back of a motorbike and went through some off roading terrain. It has been raining on and off all day so the back roads which are not paved were now mud. But, I finally arrived at my homestay safe and sound and in one piece. The homestay is more like a family involved B&amp;B instead of a homestay. The family is involved but there was around 11 of us. I was ...

... thought I said. <br>When it started to rain they just poked their heads outside and obviously thought we didn't look too wet so went back inside. It stopped a short time after. We can check 'eat dinner in the rain' off the list.<br><br>After an early 5am rise we cruised down the river to the Cai Rang Market - hundreds of boats selling fruit, etc. We boarded a boat and the lady chopped up some pineapple for us which looked more like iceblocks with the top part left on to hold ...

... the one girl called Poa that was playing with us up until her grandad brutally beat her with a bambo stick on the head for playing with all the boys. This was on the second day, and was so disturbing to see it done in front of everyone....but unfortunately this is the norm here, kids get beaten if they step out of line, and apparently so do wives as the mute daughter signed to me the other day when i was picking up a bambo stick that was apparently the builders whacking stick ...

Today the plan was to head to My Tho by bus. But there is no public bus that goes to My Tho. They drop you at the highway and you need to flag down another bus going your way. <br><br>But there is a tour that goes there so I was going to hitch a lift. But after looking at the list of the things the tour was doing I decided to do the tour ...