Chocolate, Crocodiles, Snake Wine- All in a Day in the Mekong Delta River Valley

Today we were picked up at our hotel for our final tour of our Vietnam trip. For today's adventure, we booked a private tour of the Mekong Delta complete with several interesting stops and things to see.

The first stop was a local chocolate factory. We were shown how the beans grow, when they are ready to be harvested (they turn yellow!), and the process of turning the cocoa beans into the chocolate we enjoy. We got to taste the fruit of the cocoa bean in addition to some amazing hot chocolate made at the factory we were visiting.

                                                                                                                       
 Cocoa Beans growing on the trees.

Ripe beans ready for harvesting

                                                                                                                       
 Beans are fermented for 6 days

Next, beans are dried

Later the beans are cut into pieces

Other ingredients are added and chocolate is ready for molds

                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                            Chocolate is wrapped by hand

Ready for sale! 

Of course, we had a chance to taste several of the flavors available for sale. What a fun way to start off our Mekong Tour!

Next stop, we rode a boat down the Mekong River and stopped at Unicorn Island. We were greeted with traditional music and tropical fruits to sample. 

We were then taken to learn about the making of coconut candy. We saw how the coconuts were opened, the meat harvested, cooked and malt added, cut and wrapped by hand.

We were taught that every part of the coconut is used and nothing goes to waste!! The shells of the coconut are used to keep the fires going that cooks the candy!. We also had the chance to try some coconut 'wine', banana wine, and SNAKE wine. All of the 'wines' were about 30 proof and were so strong!! Our tour guide taught us how to do 'cheers' in VN...  count to 3 in Vietnamese and then say YO!! So, it is Mot (rhymes with boat), Hai (rhymes with sky), Ba.. YO! and then drink!! So much fun!!

The tour continued with a peaceful ride on a tributary of the Mekong River in a traditional row boat.

                                                                                                                 Us with our guide, Hana

We also rode a tok-tok… 

We took this unique vehicle to lunch.

As we know by now, it wouldn't be a tour without more food than we eat on Thanksgiving--- a traditional 7 course Vietnamese meal!!! This lunch had spring rolls fried AND fresh, sticky rice, fish, chicken, soup, watermelon for dessert, and rice. The food was quite tasty and the elephant ear fish was really something to see. All of the western tourists were quite freaked out by the fish!!

In other news, we learned how tasty the Tamarind sauce was on the spring rolls. Yummy!

After lunch, we explored the grounds where there were all kinds of beautiful fruit and flower trees. They also had some animals- porcupines, tons of frogs, and crocodiles. Iyla fed the crocodiles using a bamboo pole with a fish. We watched as the croc snapped on the fish and ate it whole. Interesting....

We got back on our boat and were greeted by coconuts with straws- full of coconut juice!! Yummy!!

 Mot, Hai, Ba.. YO!

The last stop was a very old Buddhist temple- Vinh Trang pagoda. It is the largest in the Tien Giang Province. On the outside, it was an interesting mix of European architecture and traditional Asian architecture. Roman columns with Asian motifs. Truly a beautiful combination of the two styles. 

We also viewed the various Buddhas on the property- we loved the Happy Buddha and the Nirvana or sleeping Buddha.

The inside of the temple was an interesting mixture as well. This time, it was a combination of the old and the new. Neon Buddha was a sight to behold.

After our last stop, we relaxed during our 90 minute drive back to Ho Chi Minh City.