Thai Cookery...MMMM

So got up at the craic of dawn this morning and off we went on our merry way to learn how to cook thai food! Out little teacher collected us in a taxi and off we went to the market to get all our ingredients. Market stank so had to hold nose for about half an hour! Picked up some lovely thai veggies that I've never seen before or heard of before which kinda defeats the purpose as we are supposed to learning this cookery so we can cook thai food at home. I guess I' ll get replacement veggies! Anyhoo we made fried rice which was yummy, then we made prawn spring rolls, red chicken curry with noodles and some sort of salad, sweet chilli sauce and best of all......deep fat fried bannanas in cocunut batter!!

T'was all really nice except for the salad which was so spicy it actually seared by throat closed for about 10 minutes!

This will be my last blog entry from my holiday cause SURPRISE!!!! I'm coming home a few days early and will be home on Friday! So this is a test to see who's reading this!! If you are then you won't be surprised to see me and if you're not paying any attention to my blog then boo you and you'll be surprised to see me!!

Mekong Delta

Rice Crispies!!--->

We decided to make out way back to Cambodia on the Mekong River...me thinkgs it's one of the biggest if not the biggest river in Vietnam/Cambodia. We went on a 2 day tour where they basically transport you as much of possible on the river (some of it has to be done by road) from Vietnam back into Cambodia. Along the way they make stops at local villages, markets, cottage industries where the locals make stuff to sell at the markets etc. We went to see where they make Coconut Candy and also where they make rice crispies!! That was kinda cool! Vietnam is the second biggest rice producer in the world so a lot of the little idustry factories we went to see revolved around rice...rice crispies..rice crispie squares.....rice paper.......rice liquer..you get the idea!

On the second day we took a little row boat which is rowed by the women of the village to make some extra money. Many of them had their kids in the boat with us and they were soooo cute. The kid in our boat was absolutely gorgeous and kept holding my hand and running after us...she only liked me for the chocolate biscuits in my bag..I feel so used!! She was also amazed or should I say disgusted by my freckles!!! She was only 5 and every time I showed her my arm with the freckles on it she put on this face!!!

My new friend from the boat!

Afraid of my freckles!!

After the morning rowing we got to the Vietnam/Cambodia border which is where the day went slowly downhill! Our guide told us we would only have to wait about an hour at the border crossing which later turned into 3 hours. That wasn't so bad cause we made friends with some more local kids who kept wanting to play rock/paper/scissors and hand slapping games! They loved playing but aftera while all our hands were burning..they kept fighting over who would get to play with us next! Suppose we were a novelty for the afternoon!

No running water in villages so they wash in the Mekong river

After 3 hours we were told we could clear immigration and customs to leave Vietnam..we then spent about 40 minutes on no mans land waiting for another boat to arrive to take us down the river about 1km so we could enter Cambodia. It was suppposed to be a fast speed boat type thing but after 40 mins we were told that it had broken! We then had to get a little tug boat down the river..clear Cambodian immigration (another hour wait) and eventually get on our way. After immigration it was only supposed to be another hour by boat and hour by bus to get to Pnom Phen the capital and our finish boat. Unfortunately for us cause the speed boat was broken our little tug boat (hard wooden benches and floors) took 3 hours on the river. Whilst on the river we had a monsoon rain storm which forced us to stop for a while....we all got soaked on the boat as the roof was leaking! Eventually made it to the little port where we had to climb up the extremely muddy banks of the river to get our bus. It had been raining for 3 hours so the banks were very muddy..one of the girls slipped and was filthy. Then spent another 2 hours on a rattly mini bus on the bad Cambodian roads in the rain and mud! We were supposed to reach Pnom Phen at 5 but it was 10 when we eventually made it to our guest house..tired..wet..smelly and filthy!

T'was a great two days though..not so much for the activities and things we were brought to see but more so for the things we saw when we were just cruising down the river. All the local river village kids would run along the banks after us screaming and waving hello...these people have to be happiest people in the world!