November Adventure Day 7 (Vietnam) 7-11-2015 Mango Home Tour, Travel bug, Favorite day.

"Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life." 

- Michael Palin.


Today the travel bug definitely bit. In a good way. I fell in love with all the things I learnt and people I met and I think I have officially gained a wanderlust.
So after a fairly relaxing and not very eventful day yesterday, we made up for it in all the things we did today. Today was by far my favorite day of this holiday so far as we got to see so many amazing things that we wouldn't see back home in Australia. Now this is going to be a very photo dominate post because I took so many photos. I will try to explain them all as best as possible so that you can see all the wonderful things I learnt.


So after another slow morning eating breakfast we played a card game called monopoly deal. I think it's super fun and mum likes it too but my grandmother not so much (I think it's cause she was losing) We just sat over by the river and enjoyed the beautiful view and watched the boats as they passed by.

Soon enough the afternoon rolled around and we started on a tour led by a lovely women called Minh. Now I just want to say that this tour went above and beyond my expectations and I learnt a lot and gained a big appreciation for the people that live in this village and got to realize how blessed I am. Minh's  English was beautiful and she was very friendly and answered all of our questions really well. We traveled around mostly by boat along the rivers of the Mekong Delta.

I feel like my explanations of this tour will not do it justice but I will try my best!

Our first stop was at a place where locals worked to process coconuts for all different purposes. It was amazing how they used every bit of the coconut and didn't waste anything. The people there all worked so hard and they only had one day off a week. I was truly in awe of these people and it gave me a little bit of inspiration to work harder for myself back in Australia.
I am going to caption the photos below and explain the processes that are going on.

This man gets the coconuts out of their green shell on a sharp spear that sticks out of the ground. He breaks open an average of 2000 coconuts a day and only takes Tuesdays off.

These outer shells are used to make tea cozies (which I kinda want) as well as souvenirs for foreigners. 

Our lovely tour guide Minh

The outside of the coconut is used to make mats to put in the locals houses. 

This man had the tough job of removing the coconut flesh from the shell. 

He got them out perfect every time.

The shells were then taken and used to make charcoal. 

There were women peeling the coconuts after they were de-shelled.

Then this man chopped them up and poured then into a big tub to soak.

I would just like to mention again how in awe I was of all these people and how hard they worked and how humbly they just went on with their work, while we walked around.


After this enriching experience watching and learning about all the uses for coconuts we were taken on a motorbike/truck sort of vehicle (if you know what it is called you should totally comment and let me know)

My favorite photos from the drive.....

All the kids were super friends and excited and would all wave and yell hello as we passed. Super cute!

These were the rice fields that were only 2 months old.

Out of the rice fields and back onto the boat we had a beautiful morning tea of tropical fruit and coconut drinks. I had actually never liked coconut water/ milk before this day. But today I surprised myself by really enjoying it.

 Next stop, a hand made brick factory. Now I knew pretty much nothing about bricks all. I suppose it's not something you often worry or ponder about as a 20 year old girl. So about all I knew is that they were often made from clay, and even that I was unsure about. It turned out I was right! These bricks we saw were made of clay. 

They were molded and cut and baked. We only got to see the baking part of the process.

The furnace with all the rice husks.

This lady unloaded the bricks onto the conveyor belt to get cooked. 

Just a cute dog keeping the workers company 

So this next part of the journey was a very scary but important part for me. Because I rode a bicycle! This may seem super lame to all you. But I can't couldn't ride a bike. But I did it anyway and even though I was utterly terrified. So much so that I nearly threw up on several occasions. I made it through. So that's a giant "in your face" to my anxiety. 

We made it to a rice noodle mill, with a only a little difficulty. Watching the art of rice noodle making made me appreciate rice noodles much more. When I use them at home now I will always be thinking of these people sitting in their little factories making bags and bags of noodles everyday. 

This is coconut candy. It is super tasty!

After seeing into the lives of the local noodle making factory it was another bike ride (take that anxiety) to a ladies house where she made us another snack for a rest on our long journey. 

This is the tea pot cozy made from the outside of the coconut. 

After a beautiful break we went on a smaller boat in some of the smaller rivers along the Mekong.

Back in the big boat in the beautiful sunset we headed back to our mango home and then on to our final destination 

Which we also happened to ride bikes to. This time the ride was a lot less stressful. But still not something I particularly enjoyed.

At our final tour place we went to a ladies beautiful home where she made rice paper to sell at the markets. She kindly let us all have a turn in making the rice paper. Hopefully I will get to upload the video of me making one soon but the size was too big for now. 

From left to right my grandmothers, mums, mine and professional lady's. (I didn't get a photos of dads)

So I would just like to end this by once again saying how blessed I was to be shown all these wonderful things. If I ever complain about having too much work again just remind me of all these admirable people who are working way harder than me. 

We met so many beautiful people and I am so lucky to have this opportunity. I totally didn't do this day justice. I would have liked to done more on the blog and I may add some in later but for now this is all. 

Thank you so much for reading if you made it to the end I am very impressed. Love to you all xx