Mekong delta

We meet again. The Mekong is undoubtedly the most important river of South east Asia, and even moreso where it flows out into the South Chinese sea. Its delta consists of hundreds of islands, with the sediment providing nutrient soil, making the entire area beautifully fertile. Here fishing and farming abounds.
Coconut is the main harvest, and they use pretty much everything from the palm: The stem provides building materials and firewood, the leaves makes for excellent roofing and weaving of baskets, and the nuts and fruit are as useful as can be: Cups, bowls, teapotpots can be made from the shells, the water and the actual fruit is used for making milk, sugar, oil and of course coconut flakes.
Even though fishing and fishfarming is lucrative business, the main source of income in the village in which we were welcomed for our homestay is coconut.
A longboat noisily transported us along the mighty river, past Unicorn Island and Turtle Island onto Coconut Island, on which we indulged in coconut candy, shot snakewine and cuddled pythons before boarding the slim rowboats that glided silently through the patchwork of mangrove-lined canals.
Our home for the night was more of a guesthouse than an actual homestay, but it was nevertheless nice to swap the citysounds for the more agrarian persuasion. We took a bikeride through the impossibly hard-navigated labyrinth (maze?) of narrow concrete paths before helping out the locals in the shredding, rolling and deep-frying of springrolls that were part of the sustainable dinner we later enjoyed.
After dinner a big bottle of what looked like water was produced and its content poured into shot glasses. And when your local host offers, you happily accept. Even though it was fairly untastey, the home-made ricebooze went down smoothly, after a few shots.
The roosters called, and after a delicious brekkie consisting of omelettes that weren't sugared at all, we headed back to Saigon for the overnight train to the coast.