Life is so fascinatingly different along the Mekong. The markets, ferries, fishing boats and Sampan boats are normal sights. We took a Sampan boat from the ship to take our tour today.
The Mekong is 4350 km or 2700 miles long and goes through 6 countries. China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the second longest river in Asia.
At a store along the river they make and sell many items with rice. The rice paper looks easy to make, but takes a lot of practice. They use the rice husks to heat and then steam the rice paper. Then it drys outside during day in the sun. She makes 1000 a day.
They also caramelize the coconut milk to make candy. They cut and wrap the candy. It is very sticky, like taffy. The pieces we ate were still warm.
To make popped rice they heat up sand in a wok and then add the rice. The sand keeps it at a consistent temperature to get the rice to pop at the same time. Then the sand is strained from the rice. Much like making rice crispy treats they caramelize coconut milk with the popped rice and then cut into pieces. These could be sweet or savory. The flavor we tasted was coconut milk and green onion. They are making a lot right now because Vietnam is getting ready to celebrate their new year on the 23rd.
Next they made rice wine in a distillery with rice and yeast. This was 20% alcohol, just about like everclear. It is popular with the men here in Vietnam. Bryan tried the rice wine with a snake. He said it was more flavorful. I said he was just crazy!
In the afternoon we got back on the Sampan and went to the fish, meat and vegetable market. A lot different than any other market. Meat sits out on tables, live skinned frogs, ducks and chickens are all sold there. Motorcycles fill the street and make it a bit of a challenge to walk. All in all it was fascinating.
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