This is the Vietnam I Came to See

We have been very, very busy the last few days here in Vietnam, and we're finally seeing more of the country than just the big city.  Don't get me wrong.  Saigon was super fun and Hoi An Ancient City was amazing and we absolutely loved it there, but I'd been hankering to see some of the countryside and the people who live and work there because to me, that's where the real beauty of a country lies, and so far, Vietnam hasn't disappointed.  

We took a boat ride on the Thu Bon River in Hoi An where we got to see fishing boats and fishermen at work.

This fisherman was whacking the water with this big paddle to scare the fish over towards the fishing boats.

It is so beautiful here!  We asked why the fishing boats were all painted blue.  Evidently, each province in Vietnam has its own color for its fishing boats, and blue is this province's color.

This gentleman was "digging clams" in the river.  He used that big long pole to scoop them up and then put them in the basket.

We were all surprised to see what our guide was calling clams.  Evidently, these little snails are eaten here.  We all wondered how on earth you get the meat out.  You'd have to eat at least a hundred of these little buggers to even make it worth your while.  Didn't seem worth the effort to us.

This is one of the gigantic fishing nets that you see all along the river.  They lower them at night and shine a bright light into the water to attract fish.  Then they slowly pull the net up to capture the fish.

This is our guide Buffalo.  You may be wondering why he goes by Buffalo.  He told us that he came along in the family after his mother had lost four other babies.  He was born in the year of the buffalo under the Vietnamese zodiac, was strong enough to survive, has tough, dark skin like a water buffalo and he was to grow up to be the leader of his family as the oldest son, so his grandfather called him Buffalo.  His actual name is Truong, but nobody in our group calls him that.  

And here we all are, sailing along on the river.  As you can see, Frank is surviving his first girls' trip just fine. 

After our lovely cruise down the river, we got to see a carpentry village.  The families here have done various types of woodworking for hundreds of years.  For example, one family makes household objects like kitchen utensils, one family makes decorative items like trinket boxes and carved animals and statues, and another family builds and repairs fishing boats.  

These men are carving a statues.

This man is using a saw to create delicate mother of pearl inlays for decorative items.  He cuts them out one by one and then glues them on the wood, creating the design.  Then the whole piece goes through a lacquering process.

Here Buffalo is holding up a raw piece of mother of pearl and a completed bird that the gentleman above had cut out with his saw.  Unbelievable that he can get such fine detail using a saw.

Then we moved on to see the boat builders.  They have been making boats the same way for hundreds of years.

See all the little dots on the ribs of this boat in the picture above?  Those are dowels that are driven by hand from the outside of the boat clear through these ribs.  The ends are then cut off and sanded smooth.  As you can see, this is probably not the easiest of tasks.

This man is at work waterproofing the boat.  They fill in the cracks with wood shavings and then cover the seam with some sort of resin.

We then moved along to an organic village for lunch.  All the crops here are grown using river weeds for fertilizer.  

This is basil.  Does the basil we grow in the states get this pretty purple flower?

Jill and I got a cooking lesson and learned how to make bahn xeo, these little panckes made from rice flour, water, tumeric and green onion with chicken and shrimp added in.  You eat them wrapped in dry rice paper.  Oh, my goodness, to die for!

My completed bahn xeo is in the top left corner.  It was super fun to learn the tecnique of how to make these, complete with flipping it in the air.  Dan and Ashley, get ready.  We are so making these when I get home! They also served us many other dishes for lunch and everything was super delicious.  Above are just a few of the things we were served. 

The following day we were off to Hue.  More about that tomorrow.