Day 10

Today we woke up for an early breakfast at the homestay to begin our adventure filled day.  We were then rowed to the Cai Be floating market, where we learned about the local commerce and cooking techniques.

We experienced multiple cottage industry workshop lessons; including popped rice, coconut candies and rice paper. It was really interesting learning how the locals cook different types of food!

Our guide taught us how to say different  phrases and types of ingredients in Vietnamese.  He then gave us a challenge to split into two groups and purchase the ingredients from the markets to be cooked for dinner.  We spent around 10 minutes searching through the different options in the markets, enjoying the energy of the local commerce.

We had a quick lunch by the markets and then took a boat cruise back to the homestay.  We arrived back to the homestay, where we were given an hour of free time to prepare us for what would happen next.

We were given a long sleeve button up and pants to wear for what we were going to do next.  We were told we would be going fishing, and began walking.  Staring into a muddy pit, we took off our shoes and started climbing in.  We were taught how to catch fish with a little basket and our hands.  After a bit of struggle, we successfully caught about a dozen fish, and brought them back to the homestay family.  After this, we washed all the mud off and got ready for dinner.

For dinner, we cooked the ingredients we purchased from the market.  We made rice pancakes with carrot, onions and beef.  After dinner, we played another game where we had to keep an egg from cracking by wrapping it in straws.  Team 1 won again!  We ended the night sitting on the dock by the delta, while singing songs and playing guitar.