Saigon

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Traffic chaos again.

We started out the day 3 hours in the van towards the Mekong Delta where we had a Vietnemise cooking class. I did the learning and the cooking and Siuyee did the eating because I had my first bout of the runs.

First off before we started eating the old man there toasted something which I am not sure what he said , but it was a rice wine and a licorice liquor combination. My stomach was hurting so I will spare you those details. Hrmph.... Next we went to a family run food factory where they made puffed rice cakes. The take the rice with the husks still attached and dump it in high heat into a wok that has a black sand on the bottom. They then when it finally reaches temparature they put the rice with the husks inside the wok. It pops like popcorn. It was funny. They add a little bit of oil to keep the popped rice separated. Then they sift the sand out of the mixture and then sift the rice husks out of the puffed rice. They then flavor the puffed rice and pack it into squares and package it.

I witnessed a chosen pig getting ready for slaughter. The pig knew. The pig knew that it was going to its maker. The pig was put into a blue sack. Also in this market were snakes, turtles, and some other unmentionables because I really do not know what those things were.

We took a boat ride to a floating wholesale market where the boats were parked side by each and other boats were buying up there crop of vegetables and fruit. You could identfy what boat sold what buy the fact that they ran the item up the mast.

We saw a star fruit tree, a longyan tree, a pomelo tree, and papaya tree etc.....

We are off to Angor wat or rat tomorrow. A tropical storm is going to hit.

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Photos

This Was Made out of Cucumber
I still hate cucumber

Rice in Husks Being Popped Like Popcorn
They then separated the husks and sand by sifting them out. The remainder popped rice is then flavored and squeezed into bricks while the worker is smoking a cigarette.