Mekong Delta Trip!

This has nothing to do with my books, but it was such an amazing experience I want to share it with all of you. I've adopted you all as family anyway. So you just have to be in on this event.

A week after I got back from VCFA's Winter Residency in Montepelier, VT, Allen and I flew to Saigon for Andy and Kay's Vietnamese wedding reception. Kay's family welcomed us with open arms and made us feel right at home. They fed us with delicious Vietnamese food. I love those flavors. So unique in Asian cuisine. We took a trip to the Mekong Delta on Saturday driving past pristine fields of rice. They look like velvet.

Notice the gravesites in the fields? Ancestors are revered.

When we got to the river, we boarded a boat that took us all along the river to markets, restaurants, coconut candy factories, etc. Here's some highlights.

Here we are with Kay's family and friends on the boat heading down the Mekong River

Coconut candy! It was delicious fresh and warm from the pot. 

Here I am posing in the market. Kay's mom bought me one these bags.

I love rhythm instruments. I was excited to find one of these toe drums. It's really loud!

This family sang for us, one at a time. At the end, they all sang, "If you're happy and you know it!" In English even.

We rode in one of these narrow wood boats down this packed canal back to our larger boat out on the river. Quite a ride.

Lunch! It was the sweetest fish I've ever tasted.

This water buffalo joined us for lunch. That's my handsome boy, Andy, posing with him.

Next post . . . if all goes well with the internet and this one loads . . . pictures from the main event--the big Wedding Reception in Saigon!