Mekong Delta

Today we headed south to the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. We stopped at a rest stop on the way and actually found Korean Melon pops (my favorite thing to eat in Korea). Yum. It took about 2 hours to get down to the dock in the Mekong Delta region and then got on a small boat. Again, it was just the two of us with our tour guide, which was really nice. We went to one of the islands and the first thing we saw once we got off the boat was coconut candy being hand made. We were given some to taste and it was pretty good. We then walked around the island a little bit. It was peaceful and quiet, much different than Ho Chi Minh City. We then got back in our boat and went to Unicorn Island, one of the more touristy islands in the region. We first went to some honey bee place where we had tea with honey (which was awesome), ginger, dried bananas, lotus seeds, rice wine and banana wine. The wines tasted more like rubbing alcohol, so they weren't that great. Ben really liked the lotus seeds and he bought some to take home. We then walked around the island stopping at a place to get some fresh fruit and enjoy the local music. We then took a very narrow boat down a canal. I really enjoyed that and since Ben suggested I wear the hat in Thailand on our bamboo raft, I suggested we wear the hats this time. We then went back to the first island and had lunch. I really liked the elephant fish we had, which probably surprises you (it surprised Ben). We also saw a water buffalo just outside the restaurant, although technically the restaurant was all outside. I liked getting to see this part of Vietnam. Oh and on the ride to lunch, our tour guide sang us a traditional Mekong delta song. He also told us that if a couple is married for 3 years and there are no children, they have to get divorced. When we got back to Ho Chi Minh City we went right to Korean Air to get our tickets booked and pay the fee to have our flight re-routed. It wasn't that much, $64, but honestly, I think it should have been free. No flights were leaving out of Bangkok, so really we were doing Korean Air a favor. When we got back to the hotel, I had a surprise. Ben, being the sweet guy that he is, had a cake and roses waiting for me in the hotel room. It was definitely a nice surprise. We ate some cake and then went to have dinner. After dinner we went to the famous ice cream place in Ho Chi Minh City, Bach Dang. I got chocolate covered ice cream (heart shaped vanilla ice cream half dipped in chocolate) and Ben got the local favorite. We checked out the night market (of course) and then headed back to the hotel