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Saigon to My Tho - Pandaw Mekong River Cruise
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We are strangely sad to leave Saigon - although we have seen the main sights I feel that we have not done it justice and it would easily sustain a few more days' investigation. We were transferred the five minute journey to the Renaissance Hotel to register on the Pandaw cruise. There was a fair amount of chaos with the baggage and I wondered if that did not bode well for things to come - I could not be more wrong. After a 2 hour coach trip we arrived at My Tho and we welcomed aboard the Mekong Pandaw. The staff are absolutely charming and cannot do enough for you, the boat has an old world colonial charm and the cabins are spacious and well equipped. We gathered for a welcome drink and briefing before a buffet lunch. The food is local and very good - after lunch we set off on a trip to the local town. Without doubt unless you see a country like Vietnam from the river you do not really see it at all. We boarded the local day boats for a trip to Cai Be a busy commercial town with a floating market. This was not the normal floating market but a wholesale one where smaller traders came to buy goods to sell at the market or in the local shops. Each boat sold just one item - pumpkins on one, sugar cane on another etc.... suspended on a bamboo pole above each boat was a sample of the item on sale so the traders knew just where to go. We continued and visited a family business making rice paper pancakes, similar to the ones we had made on our cookery course in Hoi An. One lady makes about 700 per day, drying them on bamboo trays; they sell at the market for about $5 per 300. Next stop a coconut candy business - all these businesses are family run, usually from their homes maybe with an open corrugated shed attached. This again was fascinating - fresh coconuts were shelled and the flesh ground and pressed to make coconut cream - this was then boiled with sugar until setting point and poured into long wooden moulds. When set, a young lad cut the strips with a huge cleaver whilst his two sisters wrapped each little square first in rice paper then white paper before wrapping them in packets of 36. Very labour intensive!
Next door was the rice and corn popping industry. Again this was just fascinating. Firstly the rice was "popped" in a gigantic wok which was fuelled by rice husks; it had black sand from the river in the bottom. When the sand was really hot the rice was tipped in and popped. The mixture was then put through a series of sieves to remove the sand and rice husk. Next to this, two men had made a vat of caramel from sweetened milk and the rice was tipped in. They each took two long wooden spatulas and walked around the pot stirring the mixture up. When it was all coated it was poured into a big wooden mould, spread out and pressed with rollers. They then cut it into squares before it was bagged. The whole afternoon was really interesting, just like a live Blue Peter programme!
Back to the ship for a briefing about the next days trips before dinner. Breakfast and lunch are both buffet style but dinner is more formal. We had spiced grilled river prawns, crab soup, followed by squid stuffed with minced pork, beef stir fry, sautéed spinach and coconut rice. It was very good. After dinner there was a performance by some local musicians - I have to say the music and singing was an acquired taste! More thumbnails ...
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| 25. | Saigon to My Tho - Pandaw Mekong River Cruise - My Tho, Vietnam Mar 03, 2007 (  18 ) |
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