World Cruise--Good Morning Vietnam!

Good morning, Vietnam!! It was a hazy morning arrival but promising to warm up as the day went on. Our excursion for the day was to an area called Ba Ria to visit a couple of temples, see how rice paper was made, taste some rice wine and visit a “typical” home before spending time at a local market.

Our first stop at a temple was impressive. (Please don’t ask me to say or spell the name, I can’t.) It was a large compound that also held residency for the elderly and was attended by monks. The temple itself was two stories and quite ornate.

I was even more impressed though by hundreds of potted bougainvillea in full bloom, their bight pink flowers overflowing the branches and creating quite a beautiful garden area surrounding the temple and into the courtyard.

We were invited to wander the grounds and enter the temple if we liked. Shoes had to be off to walk inside the temple but most of us had planned for that and many wore socks as we did. The chants of prayer to Buddha were amplified and there were a handful of worshippers inside. Our guide said that the prayer time usually lasted an hour and was done four times a day.

As we walked around, we noticed others who attended to cleaning every nook and cranny. The floor tiles outside and in were sparkling clean as were all the handrails and intricate designs of the banisters.

Outside, I had to stroll through the rows of potted bougainvillea. Once in a while there was a pot of something else, maybe honeysuckle, that smelled heavenly. I could see why our guide who professed she had no religion said she would come here just to be peaceful sometimes.

Our tour moved on to a second temple which was quite different than the first. It was extremely colorful and full of all sorts of carved symbols, animals and Buddhas. This temple, said our guide, was of a religion that combined Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity. The only hint of Christianity we saw though was among the people depicted above the altar. We think the middle one looked like an image of Jesus.

On to our next stop, the rice paper making. Now when I first heard it was rice paper, I assumed it was like a paper you would write on. Boy was I wrong. What the women were making was like a tortilla or a crepe but of a steamed liquid made from rice. The round rice paper is actually what they use to make spring rolls.

It was fascinating to watch this woman who smoothly spread the mixture on a warm palate, steamed it a bit while she dipped a spoon for another. Then she took a rolling pin of sorts and rolled it over the steamed rice paper, picked it up, ladled more on the palate, covered it to steam and then unrolled the rice paper onto a drying rack.

The drying racks were everywhere, in the courtyard of their home, out on the sidewalk and even across the street on clear areas of walkways. The rice paper needed to dry for a bit before being stacked and packaged for delivery to the local market for sale. The women could make between 800 and 1,000 a day.

Just before we left, we were offered a taste of the rice paper. It had a dip with it that was very spicey. I guess you needed to add flavor because by itself, the rice paper had little taste.

Off to more rice product and this had quite a kick to it. We were at a place that made rice wine. It was very different from the Japanese sake and had 35% alcohol equivalent to 70 proof. Whew! The rice was steamed and mashed and then spread on tables to ferment. I didn’t quite understand the whole process but the cooking rice smelled good and was making me hungry.

On the outdoor patio, tables were set with small water bottles, bananas, candies and rice crackers and of course a bottle of rice wine for tasting in tiny shot glasses. It was strong but I don’t think as strong as the Greek orzo is. At least it didn’t taste as bad.

Cooking rice for wine

We had been to two places, the rice paper and the rice wine that were businesses attached to the homes. We got to glimpse inside them and I thought that would be our look at typical homes but no, we were on our way to the house we were to tour.

This house was a bit different from the others in that it had no outwardly visible business attached to it. A lovely garden was in front or back, I couldn’t tell for sure. We walked through the house which was a lot different than the one we had seen on our last trip to Vietnam. This house appeared a bit more upscale. The previous house was one owned by a widow and was very small. This house was a bit more elaborate and even had western style toilets.

A tree full of mangoes in the garden promised some good fruits soon. The little pond had pretty water lilies in it and butterflies were obviously attracted to the flowers there as a couple flitted around my head.

I was not looking forward to the next stop on our tour. I remembered the local market from the last Vietnam trip. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. As the bus pulled in, I could tell this was a better quality market as those things go. It was much larger (we were in a small city) and it looked a little like a flea market back home.

Stands of colorful vegetables are always appealing and we enjoyed walking through them. We passed on most of the clothing and other household items for sale. Bob was most interested in the meat and fish area so we headed for that.

The meat was rather interesting, especially the quarter of a pig with hoof and all attached. At least this time there was not a chicken covered in black flies.

The fish are always interesting in these marketplaces as well. Many were still alive and kicking including the octopus and, ready for it, frogs. These were nice looking frogs and I’m guessing they are raised somewhere for food. The ones that were skinned looked to have plenty of meat on them. Oh and by the way, some of the skinned ones were still moving.

The day was getting more humid and with the noon day sun overhead there was less shade. Most of our tour group began gathering to head for the bus and the comfort of A/C. We still had about a forty-five minute trip to the ship but as the dance host from the ship who acted as escort for the tour said, “We’ll be there in time for lunch.”

This trip to Vietnam was different from our last and I would assume that should we visit again, it will offer another glimpse of life there we haven’t seen. I remembered our first visit and the tour guide who started out by saying, “Most people think of Vietnam as a war. Vietnam is a country.” Yes, it is. A beautiful country of lovely people when you open your eyes and heart.