We left the hotel at 5.30 armed with a packed breakfast which we ate at the airport. We then got our short flight to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) which was followed by a 3 hour coach trip to the Mekong Delta. We had a quick iced coffee stop en route – the most popular coffee in this area is with condensed milk.
As we drove along we passed dragon fruit businesses and saw lots of lotus flowers along the route. There was also a recently built Cao Dai temple – this is a religion specific to this area.
We then had a beautiful lunch on a junk – this comprised spring rolls which we made ourselves with cucumber, lettuce and herbs and some elephant ear fish. This was dipped into Tamarind sauce. Then onto giant prawns dipped in lime, salt and pepper. A chicken stew with rice macaroni. Rounded off with pineapple and mango.
We got off the boat for a short walk to the accommodation and soon noticed that Jayne was nowhere to be seen! She had gone to the happy room (toilet!) and the boat had sailed off with her still on board!! Luckily, everyone realised quickly and she was soon back with us! What’s life without a bit of entertainment and drama!! 😀
We walked past scarlet jungle flame with orange flowers, coriander, lemon grass, tapioca and coconut palms until we got to the Ut Trinh homestay.
There we had honey tea, fruit and tapioca cake. One of the family then used coconut leaves to show us how she makes roof covering and brooms for sweeping up.
We then went along the delta in sampan rowing boats. The dappled light on the coconut palms was stunning and the atmosphere was really tranquil. This was the perfect antidote to our coracle experience yesterday! We were met at the other end by two tuk-tuks, which drove us back to base via a place which produced jelly vine. The Tiliacora Triandra plant is used to make jelly, for medicinal benefit and for making beauty products.
Sorry about the big black borders … bit of a youtube limitation
Back at the accommodation, we enjoyed the beautiful outdoor showers and an absolutely gorgeous sunset.
Then it was time to cook. Donna volunteered to help prepare the fish. This involved wrapping it in banana leaves and encasing it in local clay before it was then baked on an open fire.
We then made some vegetable rolls by painting a mixture onto leaves before steaming them, then rolling and dipping them in coconut milk. We all lined up to cook a pancake with shredded vegetables over a beautiful clay oven. We took these out to the dining area on the terrace, where we had a great view across the gardens and the river.
The rest of the dinner was equally delicious with the baked fish and vegetables rolled into rice paper, some soup, pork, salad and rice. Our dessert was the green jelly that had been prepared earlier in the day. This was all washed down with beer from the honesty fridge! We were able to help ourselves during our stay there and then tot up our tally at the end of the visit. The family offered us a lovely banana whiskey and we headed off for an early night under the mosquito nets.
