Tet

For Tet they set up displays of flowers all over the city. People take family pictures at these displays. Tet is a big family event. People travel long distnaces to get together with their family for new year's.

On new year's eve, the streets were crowded with motor cycles. Here Jennie and Nile are pretending like they are stuck in traffic with the locals.

There were several stages set up througout the city. Here is one with traditional lion dancing. Two people make a lion and they jump around on these pillars.

At midnight there were fire works.

Afterwards, people burnt fake money for their ancestors. Here people are burning fake American money.

Mekong Delta

We went to the Mekong Delta to see what is down there. The tour was pretty cheap, so we couldn't pass it up. The first top was a street market. We were most interested in the fruits. We saw huge hands of bananas and some very odd pineapples.

Then we got on a boat to head down the river to see some more rural life. After the big boat, we got on smaller boats to go see a coconut taffy factory.

At the factory they make taffy from coconut milk using a small wood burning stove. They stretch it out in molds, and then cut it into rectangles by hand.
We also saw mud skippers there. The mud skipper is a fish that can use its fins to pull itself across the ground. It can also hop by flipping its tail. This one was fanning out its dorsal fin periodicly. Sorry we couldn't get a good shot of that.

Flower market

Before Tet, the big new year's festival, there was a flower market in the park outside our hotel. They sold orchid sprouts as well as full grown plants

They had these little tree like succulants which were done up like bonsai

Botanical Garden

We crossed town to see the water puppets. The museum was on seista when we got there. So we looked around the botanical garden while we waited. They had a green house not unlike the one at the conservatory. They probably don't have to work as hard to get the environment right to grow tropical plants though.

There were quite a few beautiful plants. The middle picture is either a traveller's palm or a bird of paridise.

We went to the museum when it had opened, but the water puppets weren't happening today. We were very sad.

Drinks

There are lots of things to drink in Vietnam. You can get sugar cane juice pressed for you on the street. We saw a bill board for coffee flavored Pepsi. Everyone's favorite was che.

Cholon - China Town and the Central Market

We went to the central market in Saigon because we heard it is quite an experience and a place where you can get lots of things very cheap. They sold everything from backpacks to cow innards.

In the middle of the market was a relativly peaceful courtyard.

On our way back we stopped by this pagota which was also the location where everyone picks up their children after school. We happened to be there at just that time.

Traffic in South East Asia

In Siem Reap, most of the traffic drives on the right, just like we do here in the states. However, about 80% of their cars seem to have the driver on the right too. To complicate the situation, there doesn't seem to be a rule about what side of the street you drive on; it's only a suggestion. To make a left turn onto a busy street, people turn into what would be the bicycle lane of the oncoming trafic, and then slowly weave through the oncoming traffic to make their way over to the right side of the street.

Nearly everone in Saigon rides a motorcycle, and nearly everyone buys a yellow flowered tree. These trees are much like Christmas trees in America. So, how do they get them home? They just strap them to the back of the motorcycle. (Or they just pull them through the streets on a hand cart.) Televisions are transported on the backs of motorcycles too. Usually they are just held down with one arm while the other arm does the driving.

Crossing the street is crazy. You just slowly wade through the stream of motorcycles and other vehicles. The image above links to a short clip of us wading through the traffic.

We thought this cyclo was kinda funny. The sign implies that the driver takes Visa, but that's really not possible.

A day doing nothing

This is what Matt had been looking forward to: a relaxing day on the beach.

A boy climbed a coconut tree and fetched us a coconut.

He hacked it open with a hatchet. And gave it to us to enjoy. Mmmm... young coconut.

We sat un the beach until the sun went down. And the squid boats dotted the horizon again.

Snorkling

We went snorkling. We brought some disposable underwater cameras with us so we could take pictures. The water was a little cloudy from plankton and choppy waters, and we could only take our best guess when aiming the camera.

We swam in a school of fish swimming between the rocks like the motorcycles in Saigon. There were also many different fish of all colors.

Some of the most impressive things included these enormous sea urchins, and this giant anenomy with clown fish.

Above water we saw fish store boats like this one where the crew purchased some fish for lunch.