Saturday, March 2, 2024, Mekong Delta, bike tour (make Com, make farm with candles and roof leaves)

Today's trip to the Mekong Delta begins at 8 a.m. Anh is our travel guide for the next 3 days. We drive for around three hours and the landscape changes again: we are surrounded by endless coconut palm forests. There are also rice fields - now in harvest state or already harvested.
Suddenly we stop on the road. We walk the rest of the way to the hotel and pick up our luggage by moped. The Coco Riverside Hotel surprises us with a beautiful and huge bungalow right on the river bank. The bathroom is also huge with an open air shower.
The weather is wonderful, there is a pleasant, light wind - you can relax on our terrace. In the afternoon we start with a bike tour: first we drive to a family where Com - tested rice - is produced. We continue to a farm, the farmer shows us his animals. He is particularly proud of his pigs, whose manure is used as biogas. Johanna doesn't light a cigarette there. The housewife shows us how she makes candles from laurel and roof tiles from palm leaves. I'll try it too - it wasn't that difficult. A roof made of palm leaves lasts about 3 years, then it has to be replaced. Therefore, sheet metal is preferred as roofing.
We also learn that the woman is number 4. The people here are given a first name but also a number, the firstborn is number 2 and so on (number 1 is just the son of the king). But we didn't really understand it.
The bike tour continues to a field where rushes are being harvested, we try out dividing the stalks - everything is still done by hand here.
The area here is beautiful, everything is super clean, some of the houses are simple but everything is very well maintained.
Finally, we drive past rice fields that are currently being harvested.
Then back to our bungalow, where we enjoy the wonderful terrace. Johanna doesn't want to leave her hammock either.