Monday, 22 January 2007 - The Mekong Delta at Cai Rang

Before breakfast this morning, we walked to the Little Village School just as the children were arriving.  We gave the teachers the last of our pencils, and Jennie had some pens and a book on Australian wildlife as well.  The children all lined up - organised by a big boy (a monitor, we guessed) and sang the national anthem. Then they all squatted while the teacher announced the day's/week's doings. (Who is rostered on to clean the grounds before school, etc. We had seen some of the children doing this when we arrived - with a dustpan, taking the rubbish out and dumping it across the pathway on the riverbank.  We were tickled by a group of pre-schoolers trying to play elastics.

Back to Mr Hung's homestay for breakfast before heading off for the day's events.

First stop today was a rice processing factory.  Even saw a bag labelled 'Product of Australia'.  Not sure what that meant.

Then it was on to the Cái Răng floating market, where morning tea was an expertly sculpted pineapple.  And it was delicious too.

Next stop was a factory making rice paper.  It was fascinating to see the process from the initial grinding of the rice, followed by it being soaked and then ground into a smooth, milky batter all the way to the rice paper being dried in the sun on bamboo racks. 

A round cloth surface is stretched tightly over a pot of boiling water, and the worker uses a ladle to pour a thin layer of rice batter onto the cloth.  It's spread quickly into a perfect circle using a flat tool.  After 30–45 seconds, the sheet becomes semi‑solid and translucent.  The worker then uses a tool to lift the delicate sheet and places it onto the woven bamboo drying rack.  Drying usually takes 1-2 hours.  The pigs were a by-product of the factory, being fed the leftovers of the process.

Our final stop for the day was to visit an older Vietnamese gentleman to try some snake wine (with a very rickety bridge crossing to get there).  Well, at least the men tried the wine - it's only a man thing, and women are not allowed to participate.  It's a rice wine infused with a whole snake (obviously a small one) and herbs (ginseng, goji, lemongrass, star anise).  It's believed to help with joint pain, circulation and vitality.  An interesting experience.  We had an interesting conversation with the gentleman, as he had been a South Vietnamese nationalist during the war. 

Back to Saigon across the Mỹ Thuận Bridge, a jointly funded bridge with the Australian Government (Australia contributed over AUD $55 million towards its cost), completed in 2000.  It's a pretty impressive cable-stayed structure resembling Sydney's Anzac Bridge.

Accommodation tonight at the Cam Hotel in Saigon and dinner at the Rex Hotel Rooftop Garden.  We were even treated to a Tet (Lunar New Year) performance - with the traditional Vietnamese Múa Lân (Lion Dance) and Ông Địa (the Earth Deity figure in the orange robe).