February 27, 2010
Mekong Delta Day Trip
On Saturday we spent the day traveling out to the countryside of Vietnam to the Mekong Delta region. When we arrived at the Mekong Delta we took a boat ride down the delta and our tour guide showed us how the people use to live in wooden houses on stilts. We were also given fresh coconut water to drink during the ride. It was warm, but the taste wasn't too bad. The ride ended on a small island where coconut candy is made. We were able to watch the candy being made from beginning to end. We even got to taste a sample which was very tasty! Coconut candy was for sale along with other items such as snake wine. John offered snake wine to the group, and about half of our cohort tried it. After seeing the faces of those that took a shot of the wine, I decided to stand back and take pictures instead of tasting it!
Enjoying coconut water on a Mekong Delta boat ride
Snake wine
After trying the coconut candy and snake wine, we took a donkey wagon ride to another part of the island and we were offered honey rice tea and rice wine. The Dominion Cohort guys seemed to enjoy the shots of rice wine!
The guys trying rice wine
The next part of our tour was on a gondola. Each gondola sat 3 students and we took a short ride through a smaller channel of the Mekong. The scenery was beautiful! The gondola took us back to the larger boat and we headed off to another small island for local tropical fruits and musical concerts given by locals.
Aaron on the gondola ride
Emerson, Ron, and Murray had to help paddle their gondola
Scenery on the gondola ride
When the Mekong Delta tour was over we stopped at the Mekong Restaurant for lunch. It was an interactive experience - the first item was made table side using a whole crispy fish for spring rolls. We were also served various other traditional Vietnamese dishes including stewed pork and spinach with garlic. The food was great and the restaurant gardens were enjoyable to walk through after lunch.
Crispy fish used for spring rolls
We had a free night after the Mekong Delta tour and a bunch of us gathered for dinner at The Rex hotel located around the corner from The Caravelle. The Rex has a rooftop restaurant and bar that we thought would be a nice change of scenery. The menu offered a variety of international items and the crowd seemed to be a diverse international group as well.
Dominion Cohort ladies at The Rex Rooftop bar & restaurant
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