namaste' my journey...

Today we set out on the Mekong to check out how people live here on the river.  We first stopped at a place where they make coconut candy.  I got to stir the pot, which they boil very slowly for like six hours.  I could not imagine standing there stirring this huge pot for six hours…the patience in the Vietnamese is amazing.   We got to try some of the candy, which was great so we ended up buying some for the road.  From there we went to an Asain apple farm.  After walking through the farm we sat out back and they gave us some Vietnamese coffee and a huge pile of apples to enjoy.  Out of no where it started to down pour so we just hung out for a bit longer in the hammocks til the rain stopped…no worries….slowly…From there we checked out another fruit farm.  Here they had all kinds of different fruit, which again we got to try.  This fruit far also had a make shift type of zoo.  There was a ostridge you could ride, crocs you could feed meet to from a stick, monkeys and one bear…yes it was random.   From there we got back on the boat and headed up river to see a fish farm.  It is amazing to see these people really honestly living on the river.  After a long day of riding and exploring we pulled into our hotel, not one of our better ones but no big deal since it was new years eve and I could not imagine us sleeping much tonight.   The guys planned a dinner on a Mekong riverboat for us.  We again were the only farang on the boat.  The girls decided to get crazy tonight and try some new dishes for dinner so they ordered eel, frog legs and field mice…mmmmm!  It was fun watching them eat it.  We drank lots of bottles of wine and watched the locals take part in karaoke it was hysterical.  The locals came over to our table after it was all over to check out my hair.  They all kept touching it wanting to know how I did it etc.  It seems almost everywhere they took us someone would end up pulling my hair as I was walking by cause they were so in awe by it since they don’t see it ever.  It had me laughing a lot of the time.  The girls would always be saying that people would be starring at me pointing at my hair…that is how out in the back woods we were.  After dinner we had the guys take us out to finish ringing in the new year to a club called Xeloi.  We were the only foreigners in the place.  The locals shared shots with us danced with us it was such a warm welcoming feeling and a great way to ring in the new year.  We did not make it home til like 3am and had to get up for 5am to go to the floating market on the Mekong…who decided this one?!?!?!   After the floating market we had to say goodbye to Joc since she needed to go back to Saigon to catch a plane so lynnes guy took her to the airport while the rest of us headed to chau doc where we would catch the slow boat to Cambodia.