Vietnam & Bonus Snake

I will be sorry to leave Vietnam.  It has been great.  Today we drove to the Mekong Delta and then took a boat to two different islands.  First we saw a honey bee farm.  The bees are there to pollinate the fruit trees but they have built a cottage industry of bee products.  The tourist industry in Vietnam started to grow about 10 years ago.  The tourists come from many countries.  For instance my hotel is filled with Malaysians.  There are Koreans, Chinese, Fillapinos, New Zealanders, Australians, French, Americans and English and others.  

We took a horse cart to a coconut factory next and had tastes of fruit first with tea and then coconut products.  They entertained us with Vietnamese music from people in the village.  Then we took a small boat and went to lunch in a lovely large restaurant which serves only lunch to tourists but had local food.  There was a fried fish that came to the table upright on a platter with sticks holding it up.  The fish was then put into a rice roll with greens.  Very good.  

We returned to the mainland in a larger boat and luckily we had finished our Mekong Delta excursion when the heavens opened and resulted in torrential rains.

This evening I had Pho Bo (beef noodle soup with basil, lime and bean sprouts) and a beer for $4.  Bill Clinton had the soup there and there is a picture of him at the entrance.  

Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon as many still call it is a city that lives on the street.  Not only are they cooking on the street and selling food, They are watching soap operas and sports events on the street with groups of people standing around.  Saigon is to Vietnam as Shanghai is to China.  Glitzy and lively.

I will send more observations while I wait for my international flight to Cambodia tomorrow.  All the airports have free WiFi.

Judy  -- And now for the Bonus Snake