New Year Eve

Happy New Year Everyone!

~ compliments ala chef christine

Put it together!

New lampshades gotten from the street market in Ho Chi Minh and wj's putting it altogether for me.

bought a few home cos it was quite cheap and makes a pretty nifty gift for friends! although hmm, think takes abit of patience to get it all pieced out, alittle like origami and according to wj, if u follow the paper instructions given, you should be able to do just fine in less an half an hour or so!

Voila new lampshades for me!!!!

Day 03 - GOOD MORNING SAIGON!

Fotos taken on coach ride to the Mekong Delta and someone is not appreciating the scenic farming views! And that includes many on the coach as well...all taking forty winks before hitting the first stop of the day.

Saigon Day 03- Mekong Delta trip!

Here's today's itinerary:

1. see floating fish market
2. cross Mekong River by motorized boat
3. Row-boat ride along small creeks to Mekong River estuary
4. Motorized boat ride to Con Phung(Phoenix Island); have Vietnamese lunch, see manufacture of handicraft made from coconut trees.
5. Motorized boat cruise along natural creeks and quiet villages in Ben Tre province.
6. Visit orchards, bee-keeping farm, taste natural honey & honey wine, enjoy tropical fruit and traditional music
7. See coconut candy production process, taste candy and coconut pulp.

** we departed at 830am and reached back Saigon approx 600pm

Price: US$10/pax includes bus, tour guide, boat trip and vietnamese lunch.

Above: here's the place where we got down from our coach and took the motorized boat to phoenix island!

Above: We have reached! Going thru some orchards now! AND we see bananas!

Above: Paper roll grinder. WJ trying his hand at the grinder...huff puff...Lady steaming the paper rolls. and Coconuts used as fuel to steam the paper rolls!

Next above: we visited the quiet villages in Ben Tre province and handicrafts of household utensils which are made from coconuts! coconuts in saigon are really useful!!!! from fuel to laddles, bowls forks and spoons!

Above: IT'S LUNCHTIME! soup looks bad...salad is er..OK? Guess im pretty hungry.

Gross looking fish that didnt come with the lunch. It was an extra order...but who wants to eat a thing looking so pokey like a porcupine? eeewwww.... and back we went onto the Mekong delta and guess what we saw...ships trying to camouflage themselves as owls!

Saigon Day 03 - After lunch!

Continual of our Mekong Delta trip!

Above: Young boys dunno doing what in the creeks...must be searching for something to sell.

Above: okie folks, we have hit ground and everybody is walking thru a dirt track thru some orchards again.

This time we reached yet another small village in Ben Tre Province...

aahhh...tropical fruits! Water melon, pineapple, longan, papaya and pomelo! Next picture shows our guide swinging on a hammock. 3rd picture is the instrument player and last one is his instrument! Looks like an er-hu yah???

So here we are enjoying traditional music and singing by the local folks, having a sip of tea and a small serving of fruits.

Back to walking again...look see look see

Opps! looks like we are going for a donkey ride!!!

lady on bicycle! and that's our friendly ass who pull all 6 of us on the cart. Poor fellow, when we were approaching a small slope, the driver had to get down and help the donkey to pull us up!

When we reached our next destination for bee wine tasting, here's what i saw! Geese quacking at plant pots! how queer!!! And pretty red flowers on the way too....

here's wj tryin his index finger, poking into a swarm of honey bees...eeeewww!

back to the mekong delta! and onto small sampans...4 to a boat now. And there was a lovely smiling lady waving at me!

End of the trip concludes us at a coconut candy place where all candies were handmade! shown in last photo. Hmm...i didn't think it was very hygienic so i didnt buy any back home...the girls who were making the candies didnt wear gloves. that was okay by me but they had long nails!!! and worse of all, they had very long hair too which they didn't bun up..and they were perspiring all over!!!! *faints* and they were mopping their sweaty foreheads with the back of their palms.

*more faints*