We had to get up at 6:45 am today in order to make it down the river to meet up with the rest of the tour. Saw a floating market, a rice noodle factory and then took a cruz up and down the river taking in the sights. Its really amazing how many boats are on this river and how much work is done on the water. Hundreds of people transport goods, work, live and fish along the muddy banks of the river. We pass all size boats with whole families living and working aboard. The river banks are lined with bamboo shacks that run right up to the water with their foundation, some under water already. The typical Vietnamesse bamboo hats are everywhere and small women row these rikidy boats loaded high with all kinds of fruit and produce. Some smile and wave while others are to concerned with their work to even notice us.
Unlike Central America on our last trip where I would see lots of people sitting around during the day and drinking doing nothing, here everyone seems dedicated to a task and works day in day out. Some do sit around but only waiting to sell their products to others passing by. They sit quiet but come alive and try to sell you whatever they can as you pass by. Toothless old ladies and scroungy old men work on small tasks like selling bread or fruit but often sit aside as the rest of the family works, quietly observing as time passes by. Work is a constant state of life for people here and the hustle and bustle of the streets fills you with an inner respect for what they must do to live and support their families. Often you can see the stress of life apparent in their old wrinkled faces as they see more and more tourists pass them by with big cameras and fancy watches when most of their life they have had nothing but the cloths on their backs. The contrast from our crazy lives to their simple yet chaotic exsistence which they must endure day to day, really makes me feel blessed to have options and the ability to travel and learn from my expierences.
We get back and take a buss to Rach Gai where I got to see one of the coolest markets I have seen yet. It lines the river and boats are parked next to the market with loads of produce being unloaded and sold in a very small area. Everyone is happy and says hello as I pass. I went back to the hotel, took a nap and then Chris and I walked around for a bit and looking for food. As we were on our way back to the hotel we met a group of people hanging out on the street and sat down with them drinking and eating with them which was really cool. From their excitement i don't think many tourist come to this city. This was our first real Vietnam experience and made us both really happy to be here and meet these people.
As we were walking back to our hotel after checking out the city a group of about 10 local's waved to us and held up a glass of beer motioning us over to them. We turned around and were greated very enthusiasticly as they stood up and offered us their chairs. Sat down and kind of felt like a amusment park attraction but they were extremely nice. No one really spoke any English but we were still able to communicate through body launguage which was very cool. They had big silver canisters of a home made beer which they basicly force fed to us and when the beer ran out we offered to buy them more but they refused to take our money. We insisted and gave one about $3 and zooms off on his motor bike.
He returned about 10 minutes later with 4 more canisters of beer and a huge bag full of food. They unloaded a box of spicy crab claws and chicken numblets to us and we all dug in laughing, taking pictures of eachother and trading hats. Spent a good two hours with them before we said our goodbyes and headed off to bed. Amazing experience im glad we got to have!
Looks amazing guys - wish I was there with ya!
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