After the pond we cycled a little bit further to the local Pagoda or Buddhist temple, which was over a 1,000 years old. The temple was beautiful, large and well maintained. Made up of a network of buildings, including a temple, made with stone and decorated with gold. The pagoda was surrounded by a forest of tall trees and with the early morning sun shining through it felt a tranquil and peaceful place, exactly what you would expect. We heard how important the temple is for the local population. The temple is the centre of their life and their community and every community has one. It is a place where they study, where they go if they are ill and where they go there to pray as well. The Buddhist monks that live and work there do so without pay. They and the temple survive on donations and contributions of the local Kahmer people who are always generous.
The ambient atmosphere of the pagoda soon disappeared though as we arrived and the children who lived there saw us. The Kahmer send their children to learn and study languages and culture for 2 years at the age of 6. It was clear from the beginning that they had not seen many, if any westerners before and we became an instant curiosity, especially the ever white and pale, Rob. A few children turned into well over a dozen as word spread of our arrival. Many of them smiled and giggled as we walked past, others said hello, one particularly brave child came forward to shake our hands. It was something he would do repeatedly for the duration of our visit. Rob taught him how to high five and he quickly demanded one of them from each of us. He was even keen to try on my sunglasses. As we moved from building to building our little fan club followed us.
We learnt many things from Tiung about the Buddhist monks who live in the temple and their very simple way of life, but the thing that struck me most was the fact that they only eat one simple meal a day. I am not sure I could do that.
Having been made so welcome at the pagoda, it was almost disappointing to have to leave so soon, with a few more high fives, squeals and giggles we were back on the road. Our road led is through an area that has a high population of Khmer and these people, even more than the Vietnamese people of the jungle, had not seen many Westerners. The children and adults of the villages looked out as we passed by with smiles, looks of shock and cries of hello. After passing through the villages we emerged out of the jungle and onto some larger roads that dissected a series of rice fields all been worked by the women. They obviously hadn’t heard of the story of the pond.
We waved as people called out to us as we passed by, some quite clearly shocked to see us. At one field I stopped to take some photos much to the delight of the women working there. They waved and laughed and then beckoned us to join them. This of course, was too good an offer for Stephen to turn down, and ripping his socks and shoes off he dived into the field and lined up with the women, who screamed with delight. He joined them in picking and replanting several crops before, like most Kamher men, decided that it was better out of the fields than in it!
We spent close to an hour working our way through the fields, sometimes on roads, other time dirt tracks that went straight through the fields. There was field after field and all were been worked in. Rice is a massive crop for Vietnam and the people have been growing rice since around 4000BC.
We emerged from the rice fields close to lunch time, it had been extremely hot and warm and we were all feeling the heat. Pulling into a large, by the Mekong standard, town and negotiated the typically mad motorcycle traffic before stopping at a local Pho restaurant. Pho (pronounced fur) is, we were told, Vietnamese fast food, but it is far healthier and tastier than a MacDonald’s or Burger King. It is made with beef or chicken, usually cheaper cuts of the meat and not much of it. The meat sits with noodles in a broth made from the meat stock and usually with garlic and chilli and some green vegetables, such as spring onions. You are given this in a huge bowl and some side plates of bean sprouts and herb leaves such as mint and a basil-type herb to add to taste, as well as the obligatory fish sauce. It’s really tasty and refreshing dish that filled my muscles with energy for the afternoon. I was still feeling a little shaky and tender in the stomach, but the pho was really good and I had seconds!
After some more Pepsi and water we moved out of the shade of the cafe and back into the baking heat of the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon riding through more jungle paths and rural roads working our way through the villages and people. Occasionally we stopped to cross the river by ferry. Towards the end of the day we started to get closer to our destination the provincial capital, Can Tho. We had to cycle through a Government shipyard where they were building large freight ships for the river. It was the first major sign of large industry we had seen that day and a real sign that we had left the rural and simple life of the Kahmer behind.
Just after we left the shipyard we had to make one final river crossing before reaching the main outskirts of the city. Ironically, it was on the simplest and most hand-made style ferry we had yet used. It looked as though it could have sunk at the slightest sight of trouble. Once we left the ferry, thankfully only a short crossing, we joined the large road leaving the city. It was busy! There were motorbikes and mopeds, cars, trucks and busses all flying towards the city, weaving in and out of each other. It was not quite as bad as Ho Chi Min City, but it was still pretty scary at times, as we cycled in the middle of it all, with mopeds and cars cutting across us and in some cases simply coming at us. We all learnt one thing about the traffic that day and that is to survive on the roads you need to have a little bit of confidence and be a bit bolshie forcing your way through. Eventually we made it arriving at our hotel. It was a tough day in the saddle and three of us and our guide sat down for a hard earned beer.
For dinner that evening we were taken into the city with our guide and driver. We arrived at what I can only describe as a car park at the back of a residential area. In between the rows and rows of mopeds were a scattered collection of plastic tables and chairs and we ushered to one in the corner. All around us locals gathered for their evening meal and we were told that very few westerners visited this restaurant. Our first course was roasted Buffalo with noodles and a broth. This was the first time I had tried Buffalo and have to admit it was nice, but not really a taste sensation. The whole dish, however, was very good, as we had come to expect from local Vietnamese cooking. With the Buffalo gone, we given a course of pork and sauce with rice, a very typical dish, but seen as a more lavish one, as pork is expensive for local people. After our main courses a portable BBQ was brought up next to our table and cranked up. One of the locals, who obviously worked there, but that was hard to say as they had no uniforms, name badges or any real way of separating them from the other local people eating there.
A couple of trays of meat were brought out and one by one cooked. The meat was chicken and rat which had been covered in a marinade. Don’t worry the rat wasn’t picked out of a local sewer in the city. In the Mekong, they catch rats in the rice fields and cook them as a local delicacy. I have to admit the rat tasted lovely, better than the buffalo. It tasted a bit like lamb. Both meats were quite spicy and we were left with a bit of a sweat on and burning mouth. It was a great feast.
We jumped back into the van and we were taken to another restaurant where they served something that Stephen had been asking about since we got there, snake! Even with my new found snake touching skills I was nervous as hell. We were shown to the back of the restaurant where a range of tanks displayed lots of different types of live snakes!! I was okay, they were trapped!! The idea was that, very much like lobsters, you pick out the one that you want and they then kill it for you. Our guide chose a snake and then the waiter went into the tank. I was getting a little more nervous and was certainly hanging back behind the others. He pulled it out by the tail and began to put it into the scales to weigh for a price. All of a sudden the snake was loose. It had broken free and was pretty pissed off. Don’t blame him really! I moved very quickly away, but could see as the snake coiled and it went for one of the other waiters, who only just got out of the way of the strike. Minor panic ensued, as a waitress ran away chairs and tables shifted quickly, as people expected the snake to make a dash for it. I was moving further away too. The waiter who had got the snake out the tank got hold of it quickly, again by the tail, and with a quick sharp action flung it in the air and then slammed it into the ground making a massive whacking sound that killed it. Panic over. We were told this was very untypical and that the waiter was far from skilled at handling and killing snakes. I was just glad it was over. We watched as the snake was bled, which was then given to us in a shot glass to drink. I wasn’t overly excited about this, but thought I should better try it. It tasted strange, but I downed it quickly and thankfully it stayed down. We were then served the cooked snake which they chop up and fry with lemongrass and garlic. You eat it with rice crackers. To be honest the snake was pretty awful, especially as they cooked the bones with it too, so it was crunchy and chewy. It looked like haggis, but had none of the flavour or taste. I ate one mouthful and that was it for me. Stephen and Rob also tried it, Stephen ate more of it than we did, but none of us fell in love with it.
After all that excitement there was enough time to walk through the town and down to the river to have a look around, but we were all tired and soon returned to the hotel for another early night. Still this day was probably, despite ongoing tummy trouble, probably the best day of the trip, with so many firsts and new experiences, as well as the amazing people we had met, particularly at the pagoda. I can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day of our cycle trip. None of us want it to end.
Pictures to follow
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