Mekong Delta

Robert and I flew back to Saigon for a day, met up with Emily, and then we headed to the Mekong River Delta for a three day tour.
As you would expect, they grow a lot of rice in the Mekong Delta and catch a lot of fish. We toured the area in buses and on river boats, bicycles, and stand-up row boats. We visited a fish farm, a rice mill, a candy mill, a temple, and a Cham village. It was different sitting in a bus and being taken from place to place without having to think of where to eat or stay. We met some pretty cool folks on the tour too.
We're back in Saigon again. Robert was going to fly back a few days ago but with New Orleans' airport being closed, he had to change his flight. It sounds like they are getting some power back in Biloxi, but they are still boiling water. He has been re-routed to Jackson, Mississippi, three hours north of Biloxi. He'll be leaving tonight. It has been a blast travelling with him in Vietnam.

Bargaining and dodging scams

The food in Vietnam is great. A few day ago I noticed a kid eating a simple fresh spring roll that he wrapped himself. He took a piece of thin rice paper (it looked like waxed paper), then he placed a sheet of spring roll wrapper (like a wet sheet of lasagna pasta, but made of rice flour) on it, and then he placed on it a piece of barbecued meat from a bamboo skewer. He took this and rolled it up and dipped it in a sauce. It looked great. We asked at a tailor shop where we could get something like that, and we were taken to a small dive in an alley.
We were seated outside, and plates of raw vegetables, meats, and other stuff were brought to us, so we could wrap our our spring rolls. How much will this cost? The lady explained that it depended on how much we ate. Fine.
After much food, we asked for the bill which came out to be an outrageous 90,000 dongs. That's about $7, but way too much for a dive in an alley. We could tell they were trying to pull as fast one on us, as they explained that it was 80,000 for "two meals". We had them recalculate it, and they counted the sticks of barbecued meat (ten) and came up with 54,000 dongs, which seemed closer to reality. They were charging us 3,000 dongs per stick of meat (about 20 cents). Fine. When the tailor asked us how the meal went, we explained how much they tried to charge us, and how much we ended up paying. They were shocked, or at least feigned surprise. They said the sticks of meat should have cost 1,500 dong = 10 cents. Wow. Cheap food.
After a few days in Hoi An, Robert and I have bought several shirts and pants, and I've bought a couple suits. The suits (tailored) were $30 and $50 each. The tailored dress shirts were $7 each. This is a tip for anyone looking for lots of tailored clothing: come out to Hoi An and spend a week here. Bring whatever clothing you want copied and they can do that too. We're headed to Saigon tomorrow morning!