23 Mar 2023
This was our first day in Vietnam and was a wonderful introduction to village life. We wandered through the market as our host purchased ingredients for our lunch. Mrs Chin was friendly and her children were delightful. We helped make part of our lunch but there were many more delicious dishes that she prepared as we cycled to the local rice wine maker’s home. He showed us the still and we sampled a few different varieties. There was a wedding in the village that day. We learned that weddings are a 2 day event. The first day is a big party where they cook food for the whole village. The men BBQ’d large quantities of meat, while the women cooked vegetables in large vats. The villagers were very friendly and happy to chat with us. We felt we got an honest look at village life and culture. We then went to the tea plantation and learned how to pick and dry tea. We would highly recommend this tour. The people were friendly and accommodated our dietary requests.