Mekong River

Time for a boat ride! You guys, I like really like boats. Also, everything we visited today was a total tourist trap but I had a lot of fun doing all the things. 

Today we headed to the Mekong Delta to visit a number of islands and see a snapshot of life on the river. Our local guide today is Giang (sorry for the misspelled name). She is the only female local guide we have had so far. 

Before hopping on the boat at the waters edge of My Tho City, we had to protect our faces from the harsh sun. And look adorable. Straw hats for everyone!

Remember the four mythic creatures in Vietnamese belief? Unicorn, phoenix, dragon, and turtle. Those are the names of the islands we visited. 

First stop was Unicorn Island to visit a fruit farm and try all the delicious tropical fruits. After a lesson in farming of course. 

The front basket is for fruit. The back basket is allegedly for your drunk husband.

Rambutan

Dragonfruit

Then we watched local musicians perform some traditional songs. 

And not so traditional. 

Then we took a horse cart pulled by a very cute tiny horse and the friendliest driver ever. 

Look at her photobombing :)

Our next tourist trap was a bee farm where we got to try honey right from the comb as well as royal jelly. 

A less horrifying blob of bees

They asked if we liked snakes. I was worried that meant to eat, but the shop owner pulled out a 2 metre python for photos. 

Next we learned about coconuts. There are two types of coconut: land and water. Land coconuts are the big ones with white meaty flesh that make coconut milk. Water coconuts apparently are less juicy and don't really produce flesh. 

Water coconuts

And then we learned about coconut candy!! I super wasn't paying attention because there were free samples of candy!

Time for another boat ride. With some clamouring and competition, we climbed in a traditional fishing boat for a paddle down a river back to the ferry. 

Last stop was lunch at a fish, frog and crocodile farm. Ang had a coconut crusted elephant ear fish and some coconut worm. 

I had some prawns because I couldn't eat frog after seeing their little faces. 

And their sassy tounges sticking out

The drive back took a few hours so we cleaned up before heading street side for Vietnamese BBQ. 

Tomorrow we head to the border and cross into Cambodia. Tạm biệt Việt Nam!