Advertisement
Published: September 7th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Well, here I am in the lovely city of Can Tho (Khan-ter, if you want to begin to say it correctly!) Our guest house is right on the banks of the great Mekong River. It's really neat to wake up in the morning hearing the boats and barges and ferries moving up and down the river, to and from the floating market, construction sites for bridges, or loading docks. The river is quite wide (the size of rivers in the East, not little Texas rivers) and extremely muddy. There are many shops that actually are open to the river, as well as houses.
I and the seven other students in this program got to Can Tho a few days ago, after some orientation in Ho Chi Minh City. It reminded me a lot of Peru, with wild traffic laws, tall narrow buildings, and
friendly people always trying to sell something. We visited the market a few times, and even ventured on our own to the "Backpackers' Area" where there were more Western and vegetarian choices for dinner. It
was a very busy city, but it was a great place to get accustomed to the delicious Vietnamese fare. We drove down
from HCMC to Can Tho on national High Way #1, which seemed to be one continuous strip of
buildings. It makes the drive from Sherman to San Marcos seem bucolic 😊
We went on a boat excursion yesterday morning, and saw the floating market, a family's rice paper for rice noodles business, and an "orchard." We first went to the floating market, which is comprised of boats selling their goods. So that people can tell what boat offers what wares, they have poles on which are tied bananas, pineapples,watermelons, and various other delectibles. Once an item is sold out, they take it off
the pole. We stopped at a pineapple boat and bought some pineapples the owner cut up for us. It was by far the sweetest pineapple I've ever had. The inside of the boat was chock full of pineapples. It was
pretty impressive. Some boats selling water and soft drinks would pull up beside us so we could see what they offered.
After that we went to this family's house where they make rice paper. We watched the lady pour a thin layer onto this vat of steam with skin stretched over it, then smooth it
the Floating Market
famous in Can Tho. The tide goes in and out four times a day, every six hours, so people can travel to the market easily, and know how long it takes to get place to place by the river. If you want to go somewhere, you can, stay 6 hours, and then return home on the opposite tide. around (similar to how French make crepes) and put a lid on it. Then they do the same for the other one, and by the time the second is ready for the lid, the first one is done, they roll it up on a big rolling pin and place it on a woven mat to dry. They were almost out of the rice batter, so only a few of us were able to try to make the paper. Once it was dried, they cut it up for rice noodles. We bought some from them in thanks for showing us how they made it.
For lunch we ate at an "orchard" that really was more of a menagerie. Supposedly, it was "eco=tourism" but all the animals they had were in small cages. It was depressing to see things that were in the US maybe a 100 years, since now most animal exhibits are more spacious and at least attempt to be true to the natural habitat. They had two monkeys, lots of snakes, turtles, frogs, fish, crocodiles.... I am afraid at least some of the animals were to be someone's dinner, at some point. Being in a developing country like
Boats have eyes
The floating market Vietnam makes me want to be a vegetarian more than the US, since here you are so close to the food source, and can see the humanity? of it. I suppose in some ways, I shouldn't say that, since there are people suffering all over the world, but I think animals can suffer as well... thank you Environmental Ethics class 😊
Today I and some of my friends here met up with a Vietnamese student volunteer (to translate, make us feel welcome, and just hang out with) named Duy (pronounced sort of like "Louie"...) and had lunch at his grandmother's house. Her house is also a restaurant in the afternoon, but just the family was there while we ate. It was delicious! We had beef and bitter melon, and pork and rice. It's really nice to be able to eat at places where you know the people.
I've now had my first Vietnamese language lesson, which is rather more difficult than French or Spanish, and I am having some problems distinguishing the tones (even my own). I'll say the same word the
same way, but one way will be correct, somehow, and the other way, incorrect. Oh, and
Learning how to make rice paper
We stopped at this family's house, and they were generous enough to let us try our hand at their livelihood. That's my classmate, Liz. they have TWELVE pronouns... that's a lot to remember!
But I love Vietnam so far! Everything here is hauntingly beautiful, being on the river, seeing the coconut trees across the muddy water; it really makes me think and imagine.
'Til next time! (and I'm still having problems with getting pictures on here; I need to try a different internet cafe...)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.119s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0414s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb
Angela
non-member comment
good to know you like Can Tho
Chao Ann, it's me, Angela ;) good to know you like Can Tho. You can try veg food @ the place where you met us this afternoon. That place is good and there are many choices for ya. I understand what you talked about what they call eco-tourism orchard or such a thing. I like the way you describe how they make rice paper - which mainly used to make dry rice noodle. A real rice paper is thinner and really hard to use a big rolling pin to roll and place it on a bamboo mat. Anyway, i like your blog and others' ones. Keep writing ;) Angela