Today, we visited the Mekong delta and some of the cacao plants we learned about yesterday at ACDI/VOCA. The day started the earlier than any other day so far. The bus ride was long and after we first left HCMC, somewhat tedious. We travelled through rice fields and saw the people working there. However, rice fields all pretty much look alike after you see enough of them. The only distinguishing features were the graves of ancestors buried in the fields; those were colorful and interesting to look for.
The cacao plant was somewhat of a disappointment. It was a guy in a basically a couple garages processing cacao. The process was interesting, but the scope was unimpressive. We then went to a farm where cacao was grown. Again, this was interesting, but less than impressive. Although the variety of techniques used to grow the cacao was fascinating, the scope was still basically a farmer and his garage.
After that we went up and down the Mekong River. The scenery was one of the most beautiful that I have seen. It was a lush jungle. There was everything that you would expect from a jungle. We saw how types of bridges were used, and saw many types of ethnic craft.
After the day trip, we went to a hot pot resturaunt. It was like a fondue resturaunt got mixed with a factory. Food traveled around on a conveyor belt and you could take it and cook it in your little pot. Yet another thing that I wish America had.
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