After breakfast we went to Ben Tre & My Tho to see the islands Long, Lan, Qui, Phung. Which are the four sacred animals of Vietnam. Long is a dragon, Qui is the tortoise, Lan was translated as the unicorn island, however I would disagree with this translation. Lan is traditionally a lion, as in the lion dance, and usually looks like a lion with a horn, however has some of the same mystically qualities of a unicorn. Phung is a phoenix.
Fun fact, since my father had 3 boys and a girl, my father originally wanted to change all our names to “Kim” which means gold and these for sacred animals. So…Kim Long, Kim Qui, Kim Lan, Kim Phung (which is me). However, somewhere along the line he changed his mind.
We only saw the Lan and Phung island. The other islands have very little people and nothing to see. First up was Phoenix island where we explored the history of the coconut monk. He want to liberate Vietnam, but because his dream did not come true he ended up becoming a monk and only ate coconuts until the end of his life. The Coconut Religion was founded in 1963 by Vietnamese scholar Nguyễn Thành Nam, and later abolished by the Vietnamese government because it was deemed a cult. People of the religion only consumed coconuts. He was an eccentric person.
We then had lunch at the restaurant on the island with a huge selection of food. The hot pot was a fish hot pot which was delicious, however with my sore throat it was really hard to swallow. I did eat anyway, and right before the pain of the swallow it was so good. We had two of everything, and since there were lots kids we ended up having a lot of food left. One of everything would have been enough for our group.
After dinner we went to “fish” for crocs. The term for croc and alligators are the same in Vietnamese and there is no differentiation between the two species in general terms. We didn’t actually fish for them, it was more like feeding them.
We then went to Lion (or Unicorn island as the tour guide calls it) and had explored a bee hive, held a boa with Sophia, and ate 3 products from the bees. Those are honey, bee pollen, and royal jelly. Royal jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae, as well as adult queens hence the name.
We finished the trip at the place where they made coconut candy and of course I have to buy a bunch for home. Yes, followers, if I know you, you will get some Ben Tre coconut candy to try. It is what is famous in the region. We make a pit stop where we hear music, and have some fruit. We then have a boat ride down the river and I’m reminded of my paternal grandfather who used to grow water palm. This specific variety grows in the water and tastes like young coconut. I guess my grandfather used to bring one up every time he visited my mom’s family. We get on to a landing spot and tip the people on boats about 50,000d and on to our boat to head home.
It is a long ride home, and everyone falls asleep on the ride. We wake up to have dinner in Long Xuyen at Dong Xuyen Hotel restaurant on the second floor and then head home. My camera ran out of juice at this point, so Anne took a picture of our meal, but I haven’t received it from her yet. It was bamboo shoot hot pot, spicy fried chicken, fried egg with meat, braised fish, boiled veggies, and ended with baby bananas. They actually had a menu, and it looked like a place you can have a wedding at. That concluded our trip of the Mekong Delta. Tomorrow night we are headed to Phu Quoc, I have to hurry up and wash clothes and dry them otherwise I run out of clothes to wear. Repack and go, this is a bigger group going.
Often when we are on the road, I don’t like to bring a lot of stuff, otherwise it becomes really hard to pack and theft is prevalent here, so I often leave my laptop at home and do my blog posts at home. So see you in a few days.
Meaningful Tea 