The Fish Farm; Living on the water, the services deliver straight to your door. How wonderful is that? The floating breakfast cafe.! Next is the fish farm's "holding pens". They are bred in holding pens inder their house/buildings etc. They are held there for 6 months. A lot of fish die because the pens are fed by the Mekong Delta water, and open to the polution, tides, disease etc.
This is where they feed the fish from. At first sight, it looks very crowded, but I realized that the fish know it's feeding time so they fight their way to the surface to get the food. Then when feeding is finished, they dispurse themselves back into the quite large pens under the buildings.
The Silk Weaving Outlet: This lady is weaving silk in a little "factory".. Her son is upset and wants her attention, but she continues to do her job. She did attempt to pacify him by sitting him beside her on the stool and let him help. It didn't work very well. He just wanted mum. But I suppose she felt she couldn't stop, considering she had an audience.
A close up of her hands at work. I got roped into buying a pretty pink scarf for $4. More to support them than need or want. You will see it in another picture further on.
This is the bridge we had to cross to get to the Chi Minority People, and their village. (the people who make the silk scarfs, sarongs etc.
The River life: These are some of the houses that the river dwellers live in, I think they are lovely. And living on the river is a very peaceful existence. Certainly travelling by boat is much less stressful that travelling on the crowed, noisy streets. They do go to the mainland for supplies, and to drop off some of their kids to school each morning. Some may work there, I'm not sure, but most make their living on, or from the river.
I love this little house. See how it is built on a boat. And the beautifying of the front veranda, by potplants. I could live here! (well I think I could..)Most of the houses have wire barriers so the little ones don't fall in the river.
The Homestay: This is me with my $4 pink silk scarf. We have just arrived at our home stay accommodation. I shared my bed with Anne. And the other young couple stayed in the other bed in the same room. This is our tour guides 'family home. We put mozzie nets up to sleep. It was like camping inside.
The Rice Fields:
Our guide is explaining how rice grows. The young rice plant has a little pod on the top, containing a flower, which opens at night to catch the evening due. Then closes before dawn. After a number of weeks the flower drops off and the pod closes permanently. Then it fills with milk. Then over the next few weeks the milk hardens into what we know as rice. This whole process takes 4 months and they get 3 harvests per annum. They store 1.5 ton in their house for the families supply for 4 months, and sell the rest. Approx 3.5 ton. They also grow watermelon, which creates a much better income for them.
This is the four of us having dinner. This young couple did the home stay also. They are from Holland. We were served rice paper wraps with a combination of fillings, When our hosts saw us eating, they realized we didn't quite know what to do with it, so the girl gave us a demo. They couldn't speak english, so it was quite hilarious trying to communicate. Our guide could speak english very well, but he had dissappeared, probably for a nap.
These are the watermellon fields. Here the women do the hard labour in a lot of cases.These ladies are cleaning the slime build up out the channels.
While these men sit under the shade of a tree!!!! What is wrong with this picture?????
The Floating Markets; This young man was helping his dad. The floating markets start around 3 am, everyday.
Boats come from lots of different towns, sometimes many miles away. They buy and sell their produce, and then take home what they have bought to on sell, at their shops or markets in their own towns and villages. As well as their own supplies.
They tie a sample their particular produce to the flag pole of their boat, to advertise what they are selling. One boat had a whole fruit and vegie section of the supermarket tied to his pole.
This fellow is selling pineapple. but is now buying his breakfast from the dooor to door, (or should I say - boat to boat) cafe. This lady could be selling rice soup, amongst other things.
The trip ended in Saigon (Now Ho Chi Min City).This is just a street in Saigon. We had a quite long bus trip from our last stop to Saigon to stay the night in our own choice of accommodation. Arriving at almost 7pm, Anne and i just walked the street till we found something clean and comfortable. Our room cost $20 which we shared. Would you believe the tour, inclusive of some meals, only cost US$48.00 - (approx AU$80.00) - very reasonable. And of course our extra food, hotel in Saigon, and visa's for (Vietnam $33 and back into Cambodia $25).
Well this is just the highlights, but I hope it gives you some insight into Vietnam. I learned a lot about the Vietnamese way of life and some history, from our guide at the home stay. There is too much to put it all on this blogspot. But I hope you have enjoyed what I could manage to do. I have been back at work at the house now for over a week. I continue to teach english, supervise girls activities and outings etc. My relationship with all the girls and staff continues to grow. As does the girls self esteem, education, AND relationship with God. We all go to church every week. The girls have devotions most afternoons, and go to youth group on saturday nights. Well thats all from me till next time. Bless you heaps, love Lane.
This is the bridge we had to cross to get to the Chi Minority People, and their village. (the people who make the silk scarfs, sarongs etc.
The River life: These are some of the houses that the river dwellers live in, I think they are lovely. And living on the river is a very peaceful existence. Certainly travelling by boat is much less stressful that travelling on the crowed, noisy streets. They do go to the mainland for supplies, and to drop off some of their kids to school each morning. Some may work there, I'm not sure, but most make their living on, or from the river.
I love this little house. See how it is built on a boat. And the beautifying of the front veranda, by potplants. I could live here! (well I think I could..)Most of the houses have wire barriers so the little ones don't fall in the river.
The Homestay: This is me with my $4 pink silk scarf. We have just arrived at our home stay accommodation. I shared my bed with Anne. And the other young couple stayed in the other bed in the same room. This is our tour guides 'family home. We put mozzie nets up to sleep. It was like camping inside.
The Rice Fields: Our guide is explaining how rice grows. The young rice plant has a little pod on the top, containing a flower, which opens at night to catch the evening due. Then closes before dawn. After a number of weeks the flower drops off and the pod closes permanently. Then it fills with milk. Then over the next few weeks the milk hardens into what we know as rice. This whole process takes 4 months and they get 3 harvests per annum. They store 1.5 ton in their house for the families supply for 4 months, and sell the rest. Approx 3.5 ton. They also grow watermelon, which creates a much better income for them.
This is the four of us having dinner. This young couple did the home stay also. They are from Holland. We were served rice paper wraps with a combination of fillings, When our hosts saw us eating, they realized we didn't quite know what to do with it, so the girl gave us a demo. They couldn't speak english, so it was quite hilarious trying to communicate. Our guide could speak english very well, but he had dissappeared, probably for a nap.
These are the watermellon fields. Here the women do the hard labour in a lot of cases.These ladies are cleaning the slime build up out the channels.
While these men sit under the shade of a tree!!!! What is wrong with this picture?????
The Floating Markets; This young man was helping his dad. The floating markets start around 3 am, everyday.
Boats come from lots of different towns, sometimes many miles away. They buy and sell their produce, and then take home what they have bought to on sell, at their shops or markets in their own towns and villages. As well as their own supplies.
They tie a sample their particular produce to the flag pole of their boat, to advertise what they are selling. One boat had a whole fruit and vegie section of the supermarket tied to his pole.
This fellow is selling pineapple. but is now buying his breakfast from the dooor to door, (or should I say - boat to boat) cafe. This lady could be selling rice soup, amongst other things.
Ready for our adventures the next morning. From left; Simmone (Vic Aust), Gaile (France) myself and Anne. This is the cafe of our hotel, which spills onto the street.
The trip ended in Saigon (Now Ho Chi Min City).This is just a street in Saigon. We had a quite long bus trip from our last stop to Saigon to stay the night in our own choice of accommodation. Arriving at almost 7pm, Anne and i just walked the street till we found something clean and comfortable. Our room cost $20 which we shared. Would you believe the tour, inclusive of some meals, only cost US$48.00 - (approx AU$80.00) - very reasonable. And of course our extra food, hotel in Saigon, and visa's for (Vietnam $33 and back into Cambodia $25).Well this is just the highlights, but I hope it gives you some insight into Vietnam. I learned a lot about the Vietnamese way of life and some history, from our guide at the home stay. There is too much to put it all on this blogspot. But I hope you have enjoyed what I could manage to do. I have been back at work at the house now for over a week. I continue to teach english, supervise girls activities and outings etc. My relationship with all the girls and staff continues to grow. As does the girls self esteem, education, AND relationship with God. We all go to church every week. The girls have devotions most afternoons, and go to youth group on saturday nights. Well thats all from me till next time. Bless you heaps, love Lane.
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