Homestay in the Mekong Delta

Getting from Phnom Penh to Saigon went something like this:
We booked a slow boat (should be renamed "loud boat") from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc, Vietnam. After being almost certain that our tour agency had abandoned us I knocked on the window of a van at the neighboring hotel and managed to get a lift to our boat.
The boat was narrow, full, slow (as advertised) and very loud. About two feet directly behind me and to my right was a 2" galvanized pipe connected directly to the exhaust manifold located two feet directly behind me and to my left. No muffler. I cannot express how relieved I was to have remembered earplugs.
I know this sounds like a small nightmare, but once on the river, with earplugs securely in place, the ride was actually delightful. Border crossing went smoothly. The second boat was much more comfortable. And we made friends with a woman from Ireland, Caroline, who had been traveling for two and half years straight!
One night in Chau Doc was all we gave ourselves before embarking on a two day tour and homestay on the Mekong Delta that would deliver us to Saigon.
After a short visit to a small village and floating fish farm we piled onto a van to Can Toh, where we met our friendly local guide Dua. He is a small and very energetic Vietnamese man who thus far is the only person to have the honor of being adde to my contact list (I have lofty ambitions of arranging for one person - maybe Dua - to be sponsored to fly from SE Asia to Oregon for a visit). He took us by boat to his uncles house in a small quiet village about 5km from Can Toh.
Dua's uncle, Hung, is a full time host to tourists. It is his business to make travelers feel at home and to provide a glimpse of village life on the Mekong Delta. Caroline, Brooke and I were the only ones at Hung's homestay for the entire afternoon and evening. We gave ourselves a tour of the village and nearly every young child shouted hello from his or her doorstep. We sat out the afternoon downpour sipping iced coffee with the locals. They don't speak english, we don't speak vietnamese, it was great.
Dua gave us a tour of Hung's family farm which was primarily watermelon and rice paddies. The path was very muddy, narrow and raised about four feet above the watermelon beds. We had to stay intently focussed on our footing to keep from falling into the watermelon patch. In fact Brooke did fall, albeit very gracefully, off the path and into the watermelon drainage ditch. The workers all had a good laugh - so did we.
For dinner, about a dozen more tourists arrived, and we made traditional fried spring rolls while Hung's family cooked up some elephant ear fish and tofu.
According to Hung, most of the work in the village is finished by 6 am! I have no idea how they manage to work at night in the fields, and honestly I think that either he was exagerating or something was lost in translation. Either way, it's either very hot or very rainy during the daytime, so it makes sense that they would take all of the afternoon off.
From Hung's village we were shuttled by boat to a small rice noodle making outfit, and then a floating market - i.e. a herd of river boats milling around selling mostly fresh produce in very large quantities.
The floating market was our last taste of Mekong delta life, litterally - it tasted like pineapple, purple sweet potatoe and star fruit - with a lingering odor of exhaust fumes and floating garbage.
Now we are deep in the heart of Saigon, preparing for our next adventure - the Vietnamese central coast and highlands.