You may be wondering why "Lee number 5" is the title? That is because down in the Southern Delta region everyone is ranked. 1 being father Budda, therefore the third son is number four, Lee#4.
The journey commenced with a canoe down stream to the local coconut village
Here we were introduced to Vietnam's got talent semi-finalists, some serious jamming...
Nothing is wasted from coconuts; milk, toys, sweets, cakes, you name it!
Check out these cheeky chaps. They're having a great time.
'Apparently' coconut can do magic...age prevention, healing hepititus, blood pressure, e.d, and can even cure poor vision. Well I'm still blind as a bat, so don't worry Specsavers you will still get my £20 a month lensmail! O, it also acts as a tranquilizer.
Next stop, Buddha temple. This bloke was a bit happy.
He shouldn't be too happy, Hitler stole his symbol. Fact of the day: one of the Buddhist symbols symbolising (no alliteration pun intended) light and power was turned on its side and used as the Nazi symbol...
Glad that was cleared up, otherwise there may have been a few more vandalised grave stones in Vietnam!
It was time to find a shelter for the night. A local Vietnamese family put us up for the night and put on a great cookery class...
Meat is a luxury for the locals so Tofu it was!
"I am Hung", the father of the house proclaimed. Many heads were rolled. Turned out this was his name. Cockey bastard! He did perform an impressive magic show/chemistry lesson when turning muddy water from this...
Clever man. This was done with the aid of Alum. A chemical compound made of aluminium sulphate. Put the rock in the water, give it a swirl and you have clean water. 1-0 to the village people. Hung tried to show his manliness in a drinking challenge of 50% rice wine, at least he had a good bottle...
After a good fight, the Brits won again. No surprise. Time to hit the hay...
Day two on the Delta saw a stroll around the markets. If you were worried about animal welfare on England, think again. Being a caged hen in the UK is like staying in the Ritz.
If you are one of those Vegetarians that eats fish as it's not as inhumane, think again! Leaving fish out to suffocate before clubbing them on the noggin is NOT nice to watch....
Next time you are in Tesco buying a tiny bag of corriander for 80p or even two for £1.20 of your feeling for a deal think how much of a margin they make....
Tesco will buy Kilos of this for pennies.
It seems like they got bored of markets on the land so started up floating ones...
In this maze of boats you will find yourself engulfed in anything you want. Just find the bamboo pole flying in the sky at the boat's rear, see what's hanging from it and head on over. If you slow down be prepared for a floating Starbucks to moor up against you...
These guys certainly don't pay tax!
Ever wondered how your noodles made?
Broken rice is mixed with Tapioca to form a pulp which is then heated on a disk and left to dry in the sun
Before the disks are then fed into a cutting machine, wrapped up and sent to markets around the world. 1kg will sell for sixty pence, Sherwood's you've got yourself a nice deal there!
The final stop saw us in the local fruit gardens.
Only pineapples were in season so a BBQ was on the cards. With a feast of frogs, snakes and rats on offer it would be rude not to!
Frog and rat is just like chicken legs. Snake on the other hand is a tough tube of grisle, fat and bone. Yummy.
The delta trip was up and it was time to head back to the city to do my deed for the day, try and give my motorbike to a local family in need.
Joe we are LOVING your blog, the Mekong looks fascinating, well the whole of Vietnam looked fascinating to be honest albeit parts a bit hair raising!! At one point I thought you were trying for a job with J. Clarkson of Top Gear Fame and then maybe - I am a Celebrity Get me Out of Here!! - Love you boys - keep up the writing, it is an interesting start to our day!!!!!!!!!!! and we look forward to the Bali Blog!! Loads xxxxxxxxxx
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