A slow three hour drive got us to the Mekong Delta, where we switched to a long boat for another three hour trip along the river. A brief stop at a rice popping workshop was as interesting as it sounds (think Vietnamese Rice Krispies) but did get us our first taste of Snake Wine made with the blood of a water snake, and containing the body of a cobra and scorpion.
Eventually we reached our home stay, with the ominous promise of “food home-made of the family itself”. This turned out to be less of a cannibal home stay and more of a very basic hotel, but with resident alligators, plastic horses and a highly decorated Viet Cong captain as the owner. Over some beers he showed us his medals and war photos, whilst we fed the alligators hunks of meat from fishing rods. All in all, just another normal Boxing Day really.
Dinner consisted of barbecued rats which true to the cliché just tasted of marinated chicken, and spring rolls, most of which contained mid-length black hairs, similar to those of the chef. All very tasty though.
Following dinner the VC captain tried to give us rice wine, but wary of the Halong Bay session we switched to ‘ladies rice wine’, at 18% much weaker than the usual 45. Most of the dishes on the table came with decorations beautifully carved from cucumbers. A small quantity of rice wine later we much improved these using little Mexican moustaches and lychee skin hats.
There really wasn’t much to do for the rest of the evening so ended up playing party games containing varying degrees of violence, then off to bed at 9.30, all staying in the same dorm room. A pair of fireflies kept us entertained briefly before everyone seemed to sleep very well.
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