Cần Giờ Mangrove Forest Reserve - Crab Fishing, Bats, Monkeys and Crocodiles

 We took a speed boat down the Saigon River on Sunday to the Cán Gió District near the sea to a Mangrove Forest Reserve full of wildlife.

 View of downtown Saigon from the river

 More scenes of the houses along the river

 We pulled up along side this boat to buy some fresh coconuts

 About half way to Can Gio, we stopped to tour another local street market

 Maybe we don't want to know what they do with these toads; the legs look too small to eat?? 

 We got to meet a lot of sweet Vietnamese ladies in the market; always very friendly.

We got back on our boat and made it to Can Gio District and made our way to the Vam Sat Mangrove Forest Reserve

Here we got to try our hand at crab fishing

Not very good at catching crab

 We took another small row boat to visit a large bat lagoon

 The black blobs in the trees are very large bats. They weren't sleeping, just hanging out, fluttering around and screeching at times.  The adults can weigh over 3 lbs and have a wing span of over 6 and a half feet.

 Walking on a path through the mangrove forest

One of the towers overlooking the mangrove forest 

 View from the top of the tower over-looking the forest

 Time for lunch - We were served a 7-course meal here; started out with prawn salad and fried calamari.

Shrimp soup, roast chicken, some type of fish with vegetables, rice, morning glory stems (that's the dish that looks like green beans) and fruit.  The Vietnamese food is so flavorful!  They use a lot of fresh herbs in everything.

 We then got to feed some monkeys.  We took a small tram down a trail to get close to them and once our tour guide started calling them, they came running out of the trees.  This is probably an overload of monkey photos, but they were so entertaining!

 This was the leader of the pack.  He was much larger than the others and pretty mean.

 This little mamma had a baby attached.  She was very protective and didn't come too close, but she was still interested in our food.

We then boarded small boats with double caging to feed the crocodiles.

Our guide, Kah, threw some bait onto the bank to get the crocodiles out of the water for photos

 Suspended bridge across the small river

 Time to head back on our speed boat for the hour and 1/2 ride back to Saigon.  Enjoying some fresh coconut.

 We came across a ferry loaded down with about 100 motorbikes and riders

 Phuoc Khanh bridge - the highest bridge in Saigon

 Back to the city

Spending our final day in Vietnam hanging out at our hotel.  Enjoyed a great lunch before our long flight back to the U.S.

 One last look at our hotel - We've had a great week!

That's it!  Back home to Broken Arrow for the summer for great times with all of our family and friends.  We head out again in August for another adventure traveling to Norway, Iceland and Ireland.  Thank you for following us on this outing and hope you continue to do so while we "Escape the Norm".  God bless you all and we will see you soon.

Floating Market in Ca'i Be' On The Mekong Delta

On Thursday we went on a tour about 2 hours south of Saigon to Cai Be on the Mekong Delta to visit a "Floating Market".  River boats were all along the Mekong Delta River selling exotic fruits, vegetables, meats, and many other items.  This was a time to try, taste, and experience everything.  We hope you enjoy because this blog is a bit long.

Getting ready to board our river boat

The things we saw and how people have been surviving for centuries are quite amazing. The boats and shacks along the shoreline pictured below are their homes, businesses, and lives for all living generations of these families; and... they seem very happy. 

We pulled up to this boat to get some fresh fruit

Linda enjoying a fresh coconut right off one of the home/businesses on the river

Getting ready to dock and go ashore to tour a streetside local market

Fresh Fennel, mint, Taro root, bean sprouts, and other fresh greens

Many of the animals were alive, you just had to pick out the one you wanted and they took care of the rest

Fresh calamari

Eggs: chicken, duck, goose, quail, and more

We think this is a sheep head

Gas station and mini-mart

We got back in our boat to go further down the river and stopped at a small honey farm

Tea anyone?  Green tea with honey and ginger.

David will try most anything to include this "Snake wine".  Whole snakes, and I mean lots of them, are in the large jar below.  The snakes are infused in rice wine and used for its medicinal properties.  This process dates back to 1,000 B.C., practiced by the Chinese. Taste like schnapps to me: "Schnake Schnapps".

Quite a bite too!

We then traveled a little farther and stopped at a fruit farm.  Below is some dragon fruit.

Rice paper drying on the racks

Our guide, Kung, opening up a coconut

Popping rice on the fire, a neat process; heat up sand in a pan, and a tsp of oil, dump in a cup of whole rice still in the hull, pops in a few seconds, dump the pan in a sifter to sift out the sand and hulls.  Gotta try this at the camp fire, Awesome!

Okay, it is a "still".  Making rice wine.

Growing yeast

Not really a snake lover, but I think it liked me

One of the dirt paths through the little village we were in

Vietnamese cherries, guava and rose apples

Free range, in the jungle?

This huge fruit is called a "Jackfruit".  Very tasty and they can grow as large as 80lbs.

Just imagine these hanging on a tree in your back yard

Nice hats!  We were put on smaller row boats to explore the finger sections of the Mekong Delta River and then stopped at a small river restaurant for a nice lunch.

Pancakes, fish, and spring rolls.  They later also brought out pho and fresh fruit.

After lunch we had some time to relax in these hammocks under the trees and listen to the cicadas.  What we didn't realize though is what the cicadas do in those trees.

Heading back to our larger boat

 Now this is a load of hay. We've hauled a lot of hay in our time, but never like this!

Here are just a few of the things we saw on motorbikes; a great way to haul ducks to the market

Or haul cardboard

Or a family ride; four people on this one; we've seen five.  Many times we see the dad driving with the 5-year old standing in front of him, mom on the back holding the toddler, and even infants, between them.

Never thought you could put the kitchen table on the ole' scooter and take it across town

We saw many grave sites just out in a field.  Our tour guide explained that the Vietnamese people care more about their family members when they are dead than when they are alive.  They also throw parties every year on someone's death day so the children will remember their ancestors for many generations.

On Friday we treated ourselves to a Vietnamese Spa.  We got the "Diamond Package" which included a 90 minute full body massage, hot stone treatment, and cucumber facial all for less than $20.  We then added manicures and pedicures at $5 each.

Our Motorbike Foodie tour guide asked if we would go out with him and a couple of his friends on Friday night.  He said he would like to take us to some places they like to eat.  His friends wanted to go to practice their English and hang out with Americans.

 We had more Vietnamese pancakes only these were a specialty of Central Vietnam.

 The actual pancake looked a little bit like a taco

 To eat it, we opened it up, added some greens (lettuce, spinach, mint, fennel and others), fish sauce and chiles (if you're brave).  We then took a sheet of rice paper and rolled it up, dipped it in another sauce and ate.  Very good!

 We then drove to another restaurant where we had "Hot Pot".  We were given a pot of vegetables in a sweet broth they set over a burner brought to our table.  You order the type of noodles you want and any type of meat and add it to your pot.  We had shrimp, beef, pork, calamari and another type of fish.

 And last, we went to this street lined with food vendors.  Since we were already full, we just got some "milk tea".  To us, it was like some type of smoothie.  We picked out the fruit we wanted and then they add jello, fruit, milk and tea and shake it up.  It's served with a fat straw.

On Saturday we had a relaxing day just walking around the city and doing some shopping.

 And of course hanging out at our hotel's pool.

Two more days to go....Not finished yet.