I was invited by Nam to visit his hometown, Ca Mau over the long weekend for Independence Day (2nd September).  This is to celebrate the Independence from France in 1945.  I got Oscar all saddled up again for the big journey. This is the second part of my journey around the Me Kong, I took the first one on the 19th to 23rd August. Me Kong Tour Part 1We decided to leave early to try and miss the traffic, 6am, but someone slept in so it was 7am and  the traffic was surprisingly good.  We stopped just outside My Tho for our first break and went to a typical rest stop.

This is the gang: Trang, Nam and Phương (left to right).

We made it to Can Tho and caught up with Thế Anh, Trang and Bích again and they put on a wonderful lunch.  This is where I stayed on my last Me Kong trip.

Trang, Nam, Thế Anh, Trang, Thế Anh and Bích’s Mother, Bích and Phương (left to right)

They had a few surprises for me, mouse and baby bee (aka larva).

I know you are all dying to know what the mouse tastes like.  It is a little bit like chicken but much stronger and it is quite hard to eat as everything is so small, I felt like a giant trying to eat a chicken.  The Larva has a milky taste and is quite nice too. After a few laughs we got back on the road.  Along the way we found some more larva for sale. The bag on the back is how we carried it and there were still live bees so they had a free ride.

It wouldn’t be a journey without a little bit of rain so we waited it out.  We made it to Nam’s province and we had a ferry crossing.

The raised wooden box at the bottom right corner is what you turn around on as there is only one way on and off the ferry. From there is was narrow roads and steep bridges to cross the canals and it was getting dark so it made for some fun riding.  We made it to Nam’s place safely and were welcomed with a delicious dinner.  I met Nam’s Mother, Father and Sister (Lam).  For dinner we had Cháo with chicken, kind of thick rice soup that has the consistency of porridge and fresh prawns (shrimps) cooked in water and beer.  All the meat was home grown.  Nam’s father is a maths teacher and also owns a Shrimp farm.  After our long journey we deserved a sleep.

The next day the weather was perfect and we went to the Shrimp farm/pond by boat.  I asked if there were sign posts and there aren’t, you just have to know where you are going.  Their house is beside a canal and there are always boats going past selling things, salt, fish, ice etc. We headed off.  Below they are constructing a retainer wall to stop erosion.

We bought ice on the river too.

Once we got to the shrimp pond we went out on a small boat around the pond.  The water is changed every 2 months and there is a small pond where the baby shrimp are kept and raised until they are released into the big pond.  They don’t feed the shrimp, they live off what is in the water.  To regenerate the pond they drain the water and let the sun do its work.  They have nets around the outside of the pond that they take in once a day and a wholesaler comes to their pond once a day to pick up the shrimp.  Now this is an interesting fact.  You can eat your own shrimp, however, if you grill it you can’t.

The Shrimp farm I went around on the boat is on the right and you can also see the baby shrimp pond.  They use Calcium Carbonate to control the pH, which is between 6 and 8.

Nam’s father sleeps almost every night when it is the shrimp season at the pond in a hut to stop the theft of his product.  The hut has electricity and we steamed the shrimp and crabs.

Along with the food we had beer and rice wine which was distilled by Nam’s father.  In the photo we have me, Nam’s father, Son (Nam’s father’s cousin), Nam, and Trang.  So the custom is that if I take a shot of rice wine I then nominate the next person however getting to the bottom of the bottle there was confusion of the rules:).  It was a wonderful day out at the pond and canals, my highlight of the trip.

We then went home and Nam invited some friends around for food and beer so we were back into it. It was great to meet his friends and see the family life here.  It is peaceful, reminds me a little bit of home.

The common thing for young people to do at night is go to the local coffee shop so we spent an hour or so there with his friends, looking at the night sky and night life of the river.

The next day we meet some of Nam’s friends at a different coffee shop and then left for home at about 9am.  There seemed to be more traffic on the road and then once we got passed Can Tho where we stopped for lunch, we got into a traffic jam and then it rained.  This is how heavy it was, the water is off the roof at the coffee shop.

 We waited here for about an hour for it to stop and then we were off again.  We struck rain again and we made it home safely at 9pm.

A special thanks to Nam and his lovely family for having me to stay and making me feel so welcome.  It is a special place and I have some great memories.

Map:

Distance

Ho Chi Minh to Ca Mau: 327 km, 12 hours riding

Ca Mau to Ho Chi Minh: 332 km, 12 hours riding

Total: 659 km

Petrol: 155,000 VND ($9.06 AUD).  Filled up 5 times.