January 30, 2015.  I forgot to tell you that when we got to Saigon, we stopped for lunch on the way to the hotel at a place where we had to walk through a restaurant to get to the stairs to go to the restaurant upstairs.  An awkward set-up, but there you go.  Anyway, when we got to our tables, there were several large pictures of Bill Clinton eating there in 2000.  First, a place where Anthony Bourdain ate and now Bill Clinton. 

We are off to do a "home stay" on the Mekong Delta today.  The nearest description of "home stay" I could find is "bed and breakfast."  It's 130 kilometers from Saigon to where we got on the boat.  Along the way, we saw acres of coconut palms and banana trees, bright green rice paddies that are much closer to harvest than we have been seeing, and more birds here, too.  We passed a lot of little roadside places where you can get something to eat and drink but these all had roofs held up by a lot of poles.  In between each set of poles was a hammock.  Bon told us that if you have a long ways to go you can stop at these places and have a "lie down." 

Imagine if America had these.  How many homeless people do you think would just live there?  Speaking of that, we have not seen any people living on the streets or panhandling.  Bon did point out some multi-story apartment houses today in Saigon that he said were built to get people off the streets.  The highway that runs right along the river had been widened and upgraded in the last few years and the people who were camped out there had to move.  I think one reason people don't live on the streets is the culture here.  Family takes care of family with multiple generations living together. 

The Mekong River is the largest "river" we've seen here.  We loaded onto a boat that could carry 30 people and it took us 20 minutes or more just to get to the other side.  Along the way, we went to the "floating market" which has been reduced by large numbers.  With prosperity came more people being able to have their own boats and a means to buy their food onshore.  We stopped and went to see how rice paper is made.  Quite an amazing operation with 3-4 women putting oil and the rice "dust" (finely ground rice) in a pan that wasn't really a wok but it wasn't a pan like we use either.  In just a minute or so, the rice paper is finished and they take it out and stack it beside their station.  There was a constant rhythm to this.  Two women next to them were counting out the papers, weighing them and then packaging. 

We walked a little farther down the street and went to where they were making fish sauce.  I had to breathe through my nose here because the smell of fermenting fish was nasty.  Stella pointed out the single sink that had one glass with one toothbrush sitting in it.  We wondered if everyone used the same brush.  We have noticed that taking care of one's teeth is a big thing here.  Every hotel has had 3-4 toothbrushes for the guests and we have seen posters at some of the shops showing how to clean your teeth. 

Back on the river, we went past some oyster farms that involved a lot of nets and 2x12 boards.  I'm not sure how the term "river" applies here as it has to be saltwater to grow oysters.  When we got to the "island", we got on sampan boats for a cruise through a canal.  These are 3 person flat boats that a woman rows.  We had done one earlier in the trip, but this time we had to climb down off the larger boat on the smaller one which was not as easy as it sounds.  They are quite tippy, but we managed.  Getting out when we finished was harder.  We floated past a lot of little homes with palms and bananas, and a lot of chickens.  The chickens in Vietnam are very large.  A lot of Rhode Island Reds and very colorful roosters that crow constantly, and are free-range. 

We stopped for lunch at a place that served snake and had a very large python in a cage on the patio.  6-7 people opted to eat snake at dinnertime.  I wasn't one of them.  After lunch was finished, the proprietor took the snake out so anyone who wanted to could pose with it.  Again, I wasn't one of them.  The snake, whose name was Monty (isn't every python named Monty?), was large enough that it could be draped around 2-3 people at a time.  After about 10 minutes, Monty went back into his cage and we got on the river to go across to the home stay. 

The home stay consisted of two large houses.  The six of us, all women, who had twin bed rooms, stayed in the one nearest the river, and the others stayed in the house that was about 200 feet behind it.  The second house is where the meals were served.  When we got off the boat, we were told to use the mosquito nets and to tuck them under the mattresses all the way around the bed.  Didn't have to tell us twice, we tucked them in immediately, greased ourselves with insect repellent, and sat on the veranda.  Because we were on the main route through the island from one part of the delta to another, the boat traffic is constant.  All old boats with diesel motors.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep but a few hours during the night.  When the larger boats went by, it sounded like helicopters going over.  And the roosters crowed all night.  When the sun came up, they clammed up and didn't make another sound. 

At 6 pm, we trooped over to the other house where dinner was to be served.  Guests are supposed to help with preparation in the kitchen.  I slipped out and went back to the veranda but about 5-6 people stayed to help, Stella being one of them.  She was grating and chopping and stirring, to the point that she was the only one helping by the time dinner was ready.  Phil Arnold told us that Stella was assigned to make the spring rolls and that when she did her first one, it was too large for the cook's taste so the cook fished it out of the pile, held it up to the one she rolled and made her roll them shorter.  A true story, Stella said.  As everyone was dismissed from the kitchen one by one, she had to stay.  Every time she started to put the spoon down, the cook would tell her to keep stirring.

On the way here today, we stopped at a temple that was a combination of five religions, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic and two I can't remember.  It was very colorful with blue, green, yellow, pink, white, and black paint.  We had to take our shoes off to go inside.  Every temple we have been in here has had incense burning, to the point where it makes your eyes burn a little.  This one was no exception.  Bon lit enough incense sticks for all of us to use to make a wish.  On the way back to the bus, I was walking with Bon and Kevin.  Here's the conversation I listened to.  Kevin: "what did you wish for?"  Bon: "a dirt bike.  I always wish for a dirt bike."  "Two stroke or four stroke?"  "Four."  "how many cc's?"  "150, but I don't think I will ever get one."  Pointing to his front teeth - "these aren't real and my wife doesn't want to go through getting me new ones again."  Kevin: "what happened?"  "I was talking on my cell phone and drinking a beer riding my motor bike and I ran into ...." something, I can't remember what...."so I don't think I will ever get a dirt bike."  "you do know that you were doing two things wrong, don't you?"  "yeah, I don't drink beer on my motorbike anymore." 

There are more cell phones here than population.  I saw a lot of people talking on them while riding motorbikes.  One guy was smoking and talking on his cell while riding.  Three people on a motorbike is common, and four is not unusual.  Not as many people wear the face masks in Saigon as in Hanoi.  I think the pollution is less here.