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Published: February 3rd 2010
Have you ever wondered where your food comes from, or how they grow it? Well me neither, I may look at the package and think 'wow these strawberries came from Egypt, I didn't even think they had them there.' But apart from that, I don't really think about it. Well today was a real wake up call.
We had a very early start today as we were doing a bike ride as well (joyous) so we needed to get out before it got too hot. The first part of this very interesting day was the going to a farming village where they grow veggies. Yum. These people don't own their land, it is owned by the government and lent to the people. It is basically a very large allotment. So being a very large allotment they don't use any sort of modern day technology! They basically use their hands. They water the plants by carring two watering cans on stings attached to a pole that sits across their back. I still have a bruise from were I had a go - and I only did this once! I can't imagine what their backs must be like, or what it would
Cwock wants ago.
Not sure if he wanted to help or eat it.be like doing this in the midday sun in the height of summer. It was already warm, and it is winter and only 9:30ish in the morning. We all had a go at the watering - and I have to say, I had a nack for it. It is all about co-ordination and trying not to water yourself in the process. And I managed not too - I was very proud of myself. You have to swing these watering cans back and forth very quickly while walking up and down the rows of plants. Lots of refilling to be done. I actually found it all really interesting. The next time I see a lable saying Vietnam on it, I'm going to know that it was probably sewn by, cared by, watered by and picked by hand. Incredible. As I said, I found it very interesting, but 5 years old (I found out) don't find it interesting. Well there's a surprise. My new task is to try and get HB to concentrate on what we are doing. Rather than wanting me to tell her stories all the time. I just about managed to get her to stay focused on what was
going on, but in the end I did have to resort to talking about Peter Rabbit and how fat he would be if he was here and eating all these veggies.
After our tour of the 'farms' we headed to meet our bikes. Yeah, the joy of it all. Thankfully they did manage to lower the seat so I could just about get my feet on the floor. Back in the beginning of October, a couple of my very good friends and I went to NY for a week, and while out there we did a bike tour of Central Park. That was a hoot. I had trouble then (although not as much trouble as one of my friends, who will remain nameless, Elise, sorry, who hadn't riden a bike since she was 10 and ended up almost hitting a horse) on the smooth pavements and roads. Oh, if I found that hard, I was in for a real treat with this. These paths where cut out from other bikes and such and so you had to be very careful or (as I almost found out) you were liable to fall into the paddy fields on one side or
Watering the veg!
I was actually quite good - and I can hear you all say thats easy, but it isn't. the shrimp ponds on the other. That put my whole idea of watching the views as I went. I don't think my eyes left the floor. Then, if to make things worse, we had to cycle on the ROAD! Oh, easy peasy I hear you snicker. Do you happen to remember my discribtion of the traffic? All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is all that went through my mind. But this story has a happy ending - I didn't get squished by a bus or car or a meandering cow (oh I forgot to mention they had a habit of just walking out into the road). I did manage to make it to the boat.
That was fun, but not as fun as what was about to happen. A 3 hr boat ride. This was no ordinary boat ride, this boat ride included a boat ride in a small circular boat through the palm swamp forests, a fishing lesson and (more importantly) lunch. While getting out to the swamps, which looked like it would take only 10 mins, but seemed to take 40, HB and I played around with Cwock. That Cwock is a pesky thing, he really
insisted of getting into the river. If it was left up to F he would have gone in, until I gentle reminded F that if Cwock went in the river he would be going in after it. As I said before, I am a very kind and caring nanny *
angelic face*. HB was a little unsure of getting into the very small and leaky coconut woven circular boats. That was until she was given a pink life jacket! Hey, how comes I don't get a pink one? I got in one with Mr G and a guide. The guide made it look really easy to stear, he just waved the oar back and forth in front of the boat (obviously in the water not the air). Did you really think it would be that easy? Well I did, then he gave me the oar (mummy stop laughing). Wow, it really is easy. That was until he let go of it and let me do it by myself. The thing almost sucked me into the water. Lets just say our boat went round and round in circles and then crashed into a palm tree on more than one occasion. I would
Paddy fields
I had this too fall in on one side. bring shame on my University rowing team (yes I did row in University before becoming a cox). I put my bad rowing down to the weight of the boat, which constantly looked like it was sinking. It was rather disconseting when the guide kept leaning down to grap a bucket and bail the water out of the boat.
We were given a tour of the palm swamp which went something like this. There is a palm, that's a palm, oh that's a snail on a palm tree, and if I pull this off this palm tree you can eat it. Gee thanks. They did tell us that that the Vietnamese Guerillas used to hide in these swamp so the Americans couldn't find them. I certainly wouldn't want to play hide and seek in there.
Our next big adventure was getting back into the boat! Fun, pity no one fell in, that would be great to write about. About 10 mins later we got off again at the beach to have a go at fishing. I was actually rather good at fishing. Not with a fishing rod, but a net. The fisherman helped to sort it out so that
Shrimp farm
And this too fall in on the other side. I was holding it correctly, because lets face it if I had to do I would probably end up wrapping it round me. I managed to throw it out correctly, but didn't catch any fish 😞, maybe I'll hold off on becoming a fisherman just at the moment. HB got so up set when she cast her net it ended up by her feet and no where near the water. Oh dear.
Next came my favourite part. Lunch. I hate to think how they prepared this food. Gross. I am not the most adventerous when it comes to eating. I like to know what is in my food, and I really don't like fish. Kind of a problem when you are in Indochina, as they eat lots of fish. They kept serving fish dish after fish dish, and it is rude not to take some of it. So even when they passed around the squid I had to eat it. YUCK, YUCK, YUCK! Nasty squishy food. I really hate to think what was with the squid - it makes me feel sick just thinking about it. Yuck. Ugh, the things that one has to do for a job. It
The track.
This was what I had to cycle on. is all because F will eat and try anything - they cook duck eggs that have baby ducks in and then eat it (that was really foul) and he ate that. But that is yet to come. So back to lunch, to wash it all down I asked for a nice big bottle of coke. Ah, there is nothing more refreshing than drinking a cool coke out of a bottle. That is if there is no rust on the top of your bottle. That was exactly what I said before going to take a nice long swig of my coke. Everyone else had noticed way before I did that my top was covered in rust. You all thought that I drank the rust caped bottle didn't you. Well sorry to disappoint - I didn't. I noticed just before I put in my mouth.
After our delicious lunch it was time to head back to the dock. Which only took 10 mins, so see we didn't go that far, just round in circles. F wanted to let Cwock go swimming just to irrate HB, but I told him that, and I was totally serious when I replied to him, if
Awww
Sweet calf. he did that he would be going for a swim after Cwock. F didn't quite no what to think of that. So he asked, what if I fell in, to which I replied I would stand and laugh, then jump in after you. I felt quite touched when he said, if you fell in Anita I would jump in after you - awww.
So here endeth our boat trip - but not the day. We had another trip into Hoi An to get some dresses made! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I love getting new dress! I wont spoil what I got - you will have to read more to find out.
Back at the hotel we had a while before dinner, so it was now perfect weather to play on the beach. Do you know how quickly time passes just from running in and out of the waves? 2 hrs! There was no one else on the beach, just us, so we had two lifeguards on either side of us watching us and making sure we didn't go to far into the water (it was a red flag). We also managed to persuade F to be buried in the sand, we
Me and my buddy Cwock oh and HB
Only kidding, that is me and my buddy HB with Cwock. had sort of turned him into a mermaid (that's right merMAID), when this huge wave hit us. I don't think either F or I could move so fast. Agh, that was coooold water. That put an end to are amazing plan. HB at this point had gone through 2 sets of clothes, I have no idea why she didn't change into her swim stuff I'll never know. You know when the time at the beach has come to an end when people start to complain about sand in the bottoms. So that is how are perfect day ended. With wet clothes and sand in the bum. Well, it really ended with a photo show and pizza, but that sounds a little less dramatic.
To be continued...
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Cwirky as well as Cwocky :o)
Jan and I are absolutely loving your blogs - they are bringing back fabulous memories of our own travels .... but with a lovely quirky slant as seen through your eyes. Wonderful!