I got my wish - on the 4th day we signed up for a tour to Yang Bay - the countryside tour.
This time we woke up early and was ready by 8 am for the tour. The tour company came with a big bus that could take 16 of us.
Yang Bay is located on the outskirts of NT about one hour drive away from town. We passed through winding roads up the mountain and saw fields and fields of rice farms. The countryside of NT was cool and refreshing. Green fields were everywhere. Unlike Malaysia where we had thick rainforest, NT rural was flat spaces of green. We saw beautiful brick houses of various designs that looked European or French. At some places, the communist insignia could be seen from the red flags of the country to pictures of Ho Chi Min!
First stop at Yang Bay was at a fish farm. We bought fish food contained in baby bottles. Lowering the bottles, we saw big orange fishes (not sure what they were but they were big). They came with opened mouths to suck the bottles! Yes...like babies!
Siu Yeh saw a cat fish fighting to be fed but because its mouth was not small like the big orange fishes, it could not suck from the bottles! It was also edged out by the fat fishes. SY dripped the bottle over the mouth of the cat fish and it swallowed the food dripped from the bottle! According to the guide, the big orange fishes are not meant to be eaten only the cat fish can be eaten.
Next stop - was feeding the crocodiles. We were given long fishing rods with chicken meat attached to the rods! The crocodiles moved slowly, some with open mouths as though waiting to be fed. Crocodiles jaws are very tough...the moment they took hold of the meat, they held on tight! Some of us had to have a fighting match with them to see who was stronger. We were warned not to put out our hands at the crocodile ponds otherwise we will be chicken meat too!
Thereafter we took a small open air car to watch a stage show using traditional musical instruments and singers sang traditional Viet songs. There was also the famous beautiful Yang Bay waterfall that was perfect for photo shoot! Whilst the children went for fish massage, we opted to watch the show and the father gamely participated in the on-stage dancing. It was all in good fun.
Next stop - fighting chickens! Our daughter told us that it was animal abuse as the chickens looked like it had lost its feathers in earlier fights.
She was initially upset to see a crocodile with its mouth tied at the crocodile farm earlier. The crocodile had its mouth shut by a string just so that we could take pictures with it. Of course we did not do so.....!
So this fighting chicken or fighting cocks really upset her. Thank God they did not fight to the death although we were also given a chance to bet. The price was a chicken statuette!
Next stop - racing black pigs! The pigs were given a chance to race another with the pens numbered 1 to 7. Just for fun, each of us chose a number (we could pay 20k dong to place our bets but did not want to as the price was a mother pig with baby pigs statuette!
The father won his bet - no 7 outran all the other black pigs. Me - I was thinking of how delicious they could have tasted just like the black pork we ate in Jeju!
Lunch was fried omelette, crocodile and ostrich meat, Viet spring rolls and vegetable soup. Of course, no one told us which was which until after we ate our meal. I thought the croc meat was ostrich meat and vice versa so I ate what I thought was ostrich meat but it turned out to be croc meat...yuks....but I must stay it tasted like chicken.
As for the ostrich meat, I did not touch it thinking it was croc meat.
The nicest part of this tour was meeting 2 couples - a Dutch couple from Copenhagen and a British couple from Portsmouth. I guessed we clicked as we all were conversing happily in English. The Dutch couple were both divorcees and the lady was proudly showing us pictures of her children. She was genuinely nice.
After lunch we dipped in natural hot springs. We got back to NT about 4 pm and prepared for lunch at Lanterns not wanting to miss out since it was our last night.
Thank God that the queue was not so bad as we were early. Lanterns did not disappoint. We had a hot pot - the soup tasted like tomato soup but even more delicious. It was not sourish or spicy at all. There were fish, cuttlefish and prawns to go with it and lots and lots of vegetables. Vietnamese cuisine is super healthy!
We ordered beef cooked in pineapple shell, Vietnamese fish curry and chicken cooked in coconut! Truly the best meal of this whole holiday! The tables at Lanterns filled up the moment we vacated it. People just waited patiently for a seat. The price was about 600k dong which was about RM100 plus....reasonably priced for a most delicious meal. Kudos to the management for handling the crowd well and putting on a smile even though they were serving a continuous stream of people. Now....I wonder...is there a Lanterns in KL? They should open a branch or have a franchise.....
After dinner, SY went to see the Dream Show again. The sister went shopping for clothes and had a gel manicure (before the dinner)!
An awesome end to a memorable trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment