(Friday, June 21)
We awoke for our wet rice culture tour in the morning, meeting at 8 a.m. outside our place after breakfast.
We started on bikes through Old Town. Hamish rode with me, and Manimal rode with Alli. She says she was only a little bit terrified, but did fine.
We ended up at a farmer's house where we rode a water buffalo named Bihn
We suited up:
And all took turns riding Bihn... for fun, really.
Manimal kept recruiting
We learned to plow:


This involved a driver leading Bihn and a trailer to hold the plow up a little. This also involved walking barefoot through the field, where we had just witnessed Bihn relieving himself... for a really long time...
We drained a paddy using a woven basket and ropes. First, the lesson:
Then us giving it a try:

Once this paddy was dry, we smoothed it all out
We planted rice by tossing it liberally onto the prepared paddy.
And then we fast-forwarded to the harvest, using a sickle to collect the grown rice stalks.
We were treated to proper foot washing upon leaving the paddy.
We carried our collected stalks over to a foot-driven threshing wheel and released the rice grains from the stalks.
At this point we have the rice grains, but they have the tough brown husk on them. We first pounded the grains to knock off the husks.
This is a delicate process, because too much pounding will break the rice grains, and broken rice grains are of decreased value. Machines do a better job.
Now we needed to separate rice from chaff, so some winnowing was in order.
Finally, with some careful movement of our baskets, sort of vibrating the whole thing to separate heavy from light, one could isolate the successfully hulled rice
We ground some of this into rice milk
The rice milk could then be used to prepare a rice flour, which we used to prepare rice pancakes, right there on the ground over small wood fires.
Our girl was especially proud of doing this entirely by herself, including using chopsticks to help fold and collect the finished product.
The kids did great with it all and enjoyed all the steps. We ended with a tasty feast of our pancakes, morning glory, fish, eggplant, and noodles for lunch.
Quite the morning.
The house was surprisingly close to our guest house, so we got home quickly. Another afternoon nap, and then we headed back into town for foot massages.
Hamish loved hers and asked many times for the rest of the trip if we could get more massages. Manimal enjoyed his for about 30 minutes before he told me it was too long, and then he laid calmly and waited for mine to be over.
Of course our foot massages included tea, fresh lychee, coconut crackers, and candy.
And especially happy for the Manimal, some gift bracelets.
I went back for a final fitting
And we had dinner under the Hoi An lanterns.
Our waitress was smitten with our children and interested in practicing and improving her English. She brought them coloring pages and crayons and held their fans on them so they could color in comfort waiting for their food to arrive.
We came home after 8pm: a record for our jet-lagged selves.

(Saturday, June 22)
The next morning we headed out before breakfast for a basket boat tour through the water coconuts.
We rode through a narrow passage between the water coconuts, where we were taught to hunt for crabs. Hamish caught a very interesting purple-clawed crab. It was a perfect match for her hat.
Our guide also prepared us jewelry from the coconut leaves.
We proceeded to an opening, where we watched tricksters spinning their boats and dancing to Vietnamese hip-hop.
And then I got to try my hand at fishing net throwing.
I did not catch any fish.
Afterward, we came home in time for breakfast and then had pool time until lunch.
We ate by the pool and headed back upstairs for rest.
After nap (~4 p.m.), we headed to An Hoi, an adjacent smaller island, rented bicycles, and crossed the harrowing bridge (narrow with motorcycles zipping by, we walked our bikes) to Cam Kim, a quieter area with more handicrafts (though workshops were closed.) We rode through narrow paths by some old architecture and more rice fields and rivers.
At sunset we returned to An Hoi islet and had dinner at a restaurant called Belleville. They had really good com ga, chicken rice, but it had an herb on it, I think anise basil, that was just a fantastic flavor We had ice cream and creme brûlée dessert.
The kids were arguing in this picture, while Alli took a drink. I feel like this moment should not be forgotten among the joyful pictures shown.
There was also live music, which included Dixieland Delight. Because it totally makes sense to hear that in Vietnam. The musician was taking requests, but did not know Into the Mystic, sadly.
We were in bed at 8:30 and slept until nearly 6 a.m. Sunday

(Sunday, June 23)

After our glorious sleep, we had breakfast at our resort and then made a final trip to the beach, staying from about 8:30 until 10:30. We had a noon checkout, so we needed to return to our room and pack and clean. We could have stayed around the guest house and used their pool, our flight not leaving until 5, but we opted to head to the airport and try for a lounge.
We did arrive too early at the airport, only being able to check in 3 hours prior to flight, but once able, we headed straight to the lounge. This was a big upgrade in our travel plans, a perk with our credit card. The lounge was lovely--plenty of free food, drink (beer and wine), and cozy nooks.
Manimal took a nap after I laid with him for a little bit. Hamish opted for an audio book instead. After a while, we all ate and then headed to our gate.
The flight to Siem Reap was changed to a bigger plane (yes, this is the bigger plane, it was only half full), so we made excellent time. Manimal was awake the whole flight, and both kids did well in immigration. We loaded up a tuk tuk arranged by our guest house and drove into Siem Reap.
Hamish fell asleep on the ride in, and Alli held onto her ankle for the rest of the drive.
We got into our "Superior room"--three queen/double beds--and went right to sleep.