Floating Markets and green bean ice cream
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
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143
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
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Can Tho,
Vietnam
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
It so happened that our boat driver from last night was to be our boat driver for the day's tour, so Travis and I were already on quite friendly terms with him when everyone else crawled on the boat. We'd even stopped at the gas station together! It was pretty special, being a giant floating gas station and all.
Everyone piled into the boat and we were only a short ride away from the floating market. The fun thing about a floating market is that everything happens in boats. All of the goods are loaded on big boats, and people shopping wander among the big boats in little boats. And of course there were the hordes of tourist boats doing nothing useful and snapping as many photos as possible. The fact that we were exactly the same in no way diminished my irritation with the shameless invasion. But I couldn't be too grumpy because the market was just too fun, which is probably why tourists continue to flock to it.
In order to inform buyers what you are selling and lure them in, the big boats have long poles sticking way up in the air, and hanging from these poles on strings are all the things you could want to buy.
tranquil moment on the busy river
And it's highly entertaining to see a pineapple blowing in the wind. Most of the boats we saw had just one product: watermelon, pineapples, tomatoes, pumpkins, but some had strings full of different things. All food, of course. Also in small boats rowing around were the food vendors. They would go from boat to boat and sell drinks and food to everyone from tourists to sellers. Everyone's got to eat. After a couple of runs back and forth in the market we made our way down a canal to a rice noodle producer. Our guide told us they were rice noodles, but when I saw the big rice pancakes laying out to dry I thought she misspoke and referred to rice paper. These things looked exactly like what we had wrapped last night's dinner in. But noodles they would be - the rice papers would be pressed through a cutter that would make them into the tiny noodles you see in bundles in the store. I can't deny that it was neat to watch the rice glop being smoothed over the steamer and then pulled up carefully in a way that reminded me of the way we make lefse at home. Then they were set out to dry, and all around the little production area there were loads of mats covered with drying rice noodle paper. So I can't deny the fun of that, but what really tickled me were the piglets. They were brand new and hopping all around and so cute. And the sows were too tired to be threatening, which was good, cause they were huge. So the rice noodle producers also breed pigs because there's money in pigs. Interesting combination, to say the least.
boat with eyes
Our day seemed to consist mostly of short stints here and there. After we stopped at the rice noodle processing place we were off to see another rice processing factory. This factory husked the rice and separated it for its different uses. The unbroken, husked grains were for eating, the broken bits were for flour, even the husks get used. But I can't tell you everything because I didn't hear most of it. Our guide was very quiet, in addition to being sometimes hard to understand, and the rice factory machines were terribly loud. We crawled about the machinery over bags of rice, which was probably not the safest thing. I can never help thinking that many of the things we do would just never be permitted in the US. Mostly because someone would get sued if something went wrong. But in the case of the factory I think that someone would have had something to say about the crowded conditions and tourists climbing all over stuff.
Before lunch we stopped at a pretty little spot on a canal and walked over a questionable bridge (they get more and more creative with bridges as we continue onward). There was supposed to be a rice paddy at the end of a short walk, but it was brown. Apparently the season's planting is late because the rains are supposed to be late. Fabulous factoid: in the Mekong Delta rice producers can work in three harvests per year and produce enough rice to feed all of Vietnam and then some. Vietnam is second only to Thailand in rice exporting. Woot!
After lunch we were left by our guide and everyone else in our group.
living and working on the river
Apparently no one else opted either for a three day trip or for going to Cambodia. We felt a little abandoned, but it all worked out because we got a new tour guide and everyone in his small group was going to Cambodia.With this group we drove onward toward Chau Doc, but before we got there we stopped at Vietnam's largest crocodile farm. Why would you farm crocodiles? You may well ask. Well, now, some people eat crocodile, and a great many (like the famous Dundee) wear crocodile. You can get a crocodile wallet to go with your croc belt and shoes. So we walked by hundreds of crocodiles, many with their mouths hanging open. Like dogs, they let the heat out of their mouths because they can't sweat. But they can't pant like dogs because apparently they don't have tongues. That I did not know. There were tiny crocodiles and big crocodiles. And a pair of mating crocodiles. Lots of crocs. And naturally at a place where you breed crocodiles you would have an Asian bear. Two, in fact, both looking uncomfortably hot and bored in their little cage.
Another drive took us to Chau Doc, where we humped up to the Cavern Temple and listened to our guide go on for ages. I like to be informed. It was the first time we heard of Buddha spiriting away from his father's house on a flying horse. Seems what you think is a very straightforward religion is actually equally as different as all the rest. First Tibet, then flying horses. Anyway, the high point for me was when our guide said that Buddha for Buddhists was like "Mary Christ" for Christians.
anybody want garlic?
And I said to myself, "Thank you, Catholic Church." The reason that the temple is called Cavern Temple is because an old nun lived in a cavern, which is presently surrounded by the present temple and monastery. She had a lot of followers, and after she died they built her a little pagoda and said they would build a temple in her memory on the spot when they raised the money. Ergo the temple. For the most part it isn't too unique. We did get a little in the way when the monks were preparing for dinner, which was interesting to see. Then there is the cavern, which has its own little shrine. And two giant snakes because there were two snakes guarding the cavern when the nun was alive and when she died they went away. Our guide told us something about them coming back as old men a few years back. I was more interested in the way he touched each of their heads and put their luck onto his own. For the record our guide was half Khmer and had served as a monk in Cambodia before becoming a tour guide. This is big in SEAsia, being a monk for a little while in a young man's life.
For a moment we walked out into a courtyard where two monks were feeding bread to little fishes. Our guide commented that the fish were vegetarians just like the monks, which everyone thought was cute. Then we were back to the hotel to take the night off. Travis and I wandered off to find dinner and after some searching had delicious pho at a restaurant with no menu and no English. Ah, Vietnam, how delightful you are!
Erin
