Feb 14

Valentines Day💕 Woke up to a beautiful card from Ron....made me cry 😘 Today was a full day tour on the Mekong Delta. We had an amazing informative tour guide who spoke English, French and Vietnamese fluently. He used to be a high school teacher. Now works on tours and also is a translator because he makes more money. The trip on the Saigon River was fascinating. We were able to see the poverty on the rivers edge. The river was filled with water hyacinths and much garbage. Our guide, Long, said they were trying to educate the people about pollution but it was difficult. In some areas we'd see the shantytown on the water with new high  rise construction behind. The economy is growing quickly in Saigon as investors see it as a new market in Asia.  There are many interesting sights on the Mekong  When we reached the Mekong Delta we first visited a Buddhist temple.  Long explained the principles of Buddhism. Inside the temple there was beautiful mesmerizing reading/chanting.  He also tried to clarify the complicated history of Vietnam and why and how they were invaded by so many peoples. Still not fully clear on it all 😬 All along the delta there are ferries crossing the water way.  Next we went to visit a family who lives on the delta. They are better off than many but still no where near our standards.  The whole family lives together....kids, grandparents etc. as the Vietnamese believe in taking care of family. They work the land to feed their family. They fish, grow coconuts, raise chickens and have small crops like tarot roots which they call tapioca. These people had a collection of pythons. They raised them ...like chickens... and use the fat for the perfume industry and the skin was sold for products such as purses and shoes. They are experiencing more and more difficulties as the water rises from global warming. A meter higher water will completing wipe out the delta and the 20 million people who live there....85% living in poverty. Right now the bigger issue is the fresh water is receding because of the dams built in China at the northern end of the Mekong River. This is turning the water brackish so many fish are dying and crops in danger.  Next stop, to stretch our legs, a small tarot farm where we tasted home made rice wine...banana, honey and spiced. We also had fresh coconut ... 😋 We went to a small village on the delta. First a tour of a Cai Dai temple. This religion combines Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Lunch was our last stop. Amazing !!!! We had rice paper spring rolls, prawns, sweet and sour soup, rice, steamed morning glory roots, chicken curry, fresh fruit. The last course was a fish they called Elephant Ears. It was a scary looking fish but the flesh was white, mild with no bones. We were skeptical at first but they told us to eat the skin too. It was amazing !!!