Day 35: Last Christmas (24 Dec 2008)

On the next morning we got up at 6:00 AM in order to catch the sampan on time to get to the floating market of Can Tho before the heat fell down as blanket on the city and river. This time we stayed on one of the main river arm. The Mekong Delta is full of live: boats of al size and kind, a lot of houses at the shore and activities ongoing at the river banks. People live and work around the river, the Mekong is the beating heart of the South of Vietnam. Not to mention that they use the water for everything: it is used of cooking, bathing, cleaning vegetables and all kind of utensils. We saw little kids cleaning the cadaver of a little dog in the river, probably their Christmas meal (unfortunately Steven was too much in chock to take a picture).

The floating markets are very attractive: wooden boats of all kind are selling different kinds of fruits and vegetables. They advertise by hanging the item(s) on top of their boats on a mast, so you can easy recognize it. Now is dragon fruit and water melon season. Coconut, pineapple and bananas are always 'in season' . I was particularly interested in the rice boats, transporting the bulk rice from/to the warehouses on the shore. I just wonder whether they ever heard about dust explosions... Talking about safety, I could take enough pictures in Vietnam to fill in the opening safety minutes for all meetings at Jacobs for the next year (worldwide). I particularly would like to mention the boat driving engines who run without any protection of the moving parts. However the boat 'captain' rolls up the trousers' pipe close to the engine as a personal protection mean (what a relief). In Thailand at least they were talking already about 'safety first' at construction sites along the road.

After the boat trip and lunch we took a little siesta. The temperature rose again above 35 °C, we just cannot agree whether it is warmer than in Bangkok or not. We have to be in good shape for Christmas eve however, since the travel agency invited us for a Christmas dinner in Can Tho to compensate for our complaint about the train. Turned out that it was in the same restaurant where we had dinner last night, but we didn't gave a wink and now we got the full menu and we sat at the balcony, a perfect spot to observe the X-mas crazy Viets. The travel agency said previously that Christmas is not really celebrated in Vietnam, but we can confirm that they are X-mas crazy (though the fact that the Asia Cup was on the television on the same evening, Thailand against Vietnam helped as well). People are massively on the streets, whole families on their scooters, little kids disguised as father Christmas, young couples stroll at the river banks, 'last Christmas' from Wham is shouting outside the speakers of a bar. The Christmas shops are doing big business, and particularly the little shops in the park where you can take a picture of your child in a Christmas scenery. We took a picture of August and headed off, without to pay for it. Too bad (a little revenge for all the tricks the Viets tried on us);

Back in our hotel we realized that the Viets are taking this holiday really seriously, and that they will probably would go on celebrating the whole night long. So goodnight to you too!!!