Down in the Delta - Can Tho!

We began at 7:30 and drove down to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, clicking our cameras as we went, catching some things, botching others; this house in the rice paddies turned out okay.

We stopped for a break at a beautiful little hotel where these lilies were popping their heads up out of the water and looking brilliant. 

When we got to Can Tho, we went into this Cantonese temple which functions as both a temple and the association's meeting place for the 2,000 members of this Cantonese Chinese Association; the Cheo Cho and the Hakkan have their own associations and temples

The head of the Cantonese association is on the right, and the man with the goofy but endearing smile is a Vietnamese literature professor at University of Saigon.

I couldn't get enough of this whimsical goose in the temple, and I was more than a little blown away by the plate of offerings that consisted of eggs, pork and fish because they represented earth, water and I forget what the eggs meant.  But that is one heck of a slab of bacon being offered up to the gods!

This woman was sitting at the entrance of the temple and kept going out to check on her motorbike.

George bought one of those giant coils of incense and put the sign below into it; the sign says "ARCAS-Luce Group 2013" with a peace sign beneath it.

He lit the coil and it hangs up with the other hundreds of hanging tributes to people or groups; it will burn for one whole month.

This is the fellow who wards off evil at the entrance to the temple.

At lunch we ate at a restaurant right on the Can Tho river, and this was our view; oooh, I really LOVE the Delta!

As we walked through the city/town, I saw this juxtaposition of old and new.

Here was a little altar at one of the Hosien Chinese stores; they usually go into the restaurant business, but this man had gone into the porcelain business.  Here you can see the offerings go beyond pork; we are offering Coca Cola.  Sigh.

Of course Ho Chi Minh stands in the middle of the square, and after we all traipsed around town, looking for more Chinese Vietnamese with whom to chat, I suggested we have a beer along the river, which we did.  The boats are still as enchanting as I recall, and many of these women were functioning as ferries over to the other side.  In the last photo you can see a girl with her bike on board the little boat which ferries her across the river; the motor is more like a little fan or weed whacker at the end of the long, movable pole at the back of the boat.  After the driver rows out into position, she starts the wee motor, and then plunks it down into the water.  Off they go!

We went to the night market after some supper.  I plan to run at 5 because we leave here for Can Mau (?) at 7:00.  More manana.