Can Tho

In Phu Quoc, we bought tickets to Can Tho which is Vietnam's 4th largest city (after Hanoi, Saigon, and Da Nang) and in the middle of the Mekong Delta.  We were picked up by a little mini van that am about 10 minutes early which prevented me from getting more money from the ATM.  Our room had taken the full allotment we were able to take out from the previous 2 days (ATMs in Asia - and Africa to a lesser extent, only let you take out small amounts and then between your bank and the ATM charge outrageous fees - or you can pay a 5% or higher surcharge to take out a cash advance on your Visa - even when it has a positive cash balance). 

Anyway, then we were taken to the ferry terminal (LOL!!!!) on the other side of the island where once again, we slugged our packs a half mile out a narrow jetty dodging motorcycles carrying everything from 10 huge potato bags of charcoal to huge wicker baskets on each side and pulling trailers.  We made it out uneventfully but the unfortunate back packers immediately behind me had a collision with one and knocked the motorcycle over.  Everyone was OK but if it were me that was hit by this guy, I'd have picked his motorcycle up and thrown it over the side!

We were about an hour early for our boat so we just sat around and watched the locals loading up every thing imaginable on to the back of the ferry... including a 5 gallon open pail with about 50 live eels in it!  All our backpacks went up on the roof.  Then it was time to board and we all piled on and listened to 2 hours of Vietnamese variety shows on the big screen TV's on our rickety old ferry as we raced across the Andaman Sea for Ha Tien.  Once in Ha Tien, 7 of us plus all of our packs were shoved into a taxi that was built for 5 but I wasn't too concerned as it was to be just a short trip to the bus station - that should have been my first clue.

When we got to the bus station, it wasn't one of the nice VIP buses or even a nice minibus as we'd been promised but a dilapated old local bus with no air conditioning.  Of course by then, all of the representatives had long since departed any they kept pointing at the bus and saying "Can Tho... Can Tho" so we piled on (me smoking out both ears).  There were only 2 others on the bus which held about 16 seats so I figured that even though the seats were really only wide enough for Rachel, we could make due with one of us in each row.  We pulled out of the bus station doing about crawling speed which continued for about 10 kms as we drove out of town...  when we realized they were trolling for additional passengers.  Next thing we knew, we were all sitting or being sat on by locals and they couldn't have put a tooth pick more on the bus.  Now, I'm really frothing at the mouth as we specifically asked them if this was a private bus that would not make any other stops on the way to Can Tho.  They'll lie and do anything to get your money.  

Our 3 hour bus ride ended up taking 6 hours including a transfer to an even smaller minivan with 12 people jammed in to it.  Worse than that, the scenery was of garbage dumps all the way to Can Tho.  We certainly came in the butt hole of Vietnam!  By the time we eventually got to Can Tho, I was in a lethal mood and Jen and the kids were smart enough to leave me alone and let me stew.  We discovered they don't do tuk-tuks in Vietnam and the taxi's don't bother with hanging around the bus stations as none of their regular passengers can afford it.  We were deluged by about 50 motorcycle drivers each vying to take us and all of our packs to our hotel.  I wasn't having any of it so we strapped on our packs and started walking in search of an ATM as we only had about $2 on our person (it wasn't for lack of trying as we'd taken the maximum out each and every chance we could but they don't plan for tourists spending it times 4 I guess).

Once I got 4 Million Dong (about $200 US) in my pocket, my mood improved somewhat and a local street vendor lady helped us flag down a cab to take us to the hotel we wanted to try first.  Luckily, they had available rooms and we were able to stash our stuff and get me a cold beer to settle down!  I'd been off the beer since the first of the month since Jen's mountain climbing and fast walking/hiking didn't seem to be taking the weight off that I'd hoped it would but I figured I deserved this one!  

Can Tho itself isn't much of a city in my humble opinion but we didn't come to see it but rather the floating markets down the Mekong so we booked a trip for 5:30am the next morning on a private boat and headed to bed for the night.  

The next am, we were met by a nice local lady who took us to her boat.  It was a little punt with a motor on a stick and we headed up river past all manner of boats.  The tide was heading out so the current was moving along against us fairly well but she skillfully took the boat to one side of the Mekong or the other to avoid the strongest currents and got us there.  I was fascinated by how much they overload the boats on this river.  Without a word of a lie, we saw some boats that if they stopped, the bow wave would sink them.  I tried getting some pictures of this but none that really did it justice as I usually had my jaw hanging out wondering why they weren't submerging!  We did see one that had sunk and they were using a big crane to take the sand out of it that it was carrying so they could refloat it.

Amazing squalor they live in... and we saw them taking water from this river by bucket on a rope... you can guess where their sewage goes.

Yikes!

See what I mean?  This one at least has a few inches of freeboard still available

They were still adding to this one!

This one is empty...  note the waterline

Our driver was an Oragami master...  you wouldn't believe the stuff she made out of loose reeds floating on the river.  This was the second sample... a LOT more to come.

Oops!  I guess we put a bit too much on this one!

This guy has LOADS more room!  :-)

Same type, empty.

Here's the first floating market.

Pineapples anyone?

The stick "flag"is how they advertise what they are selling.

This guy was at a local shop we stopped at for a drink while visiting the rice noodle factory.  He comes from the Mekong  and would lift half of himself out of the water for a potato chip!  He weighed about 11 lbs.

After the first floating market, we went down a series of smaller canals to a rice noodle factory where we watched them turning rice into noodles.  It was quite interesting.

First they take the rice and add a bit of water and grind it up into a soupy mixture like extremely thin pancake mix.

Out it comes

Then they scoop it up and put it on one of two flat surfaces that you can see on the right (one is covered with a cone shaped lid).

Then she puts the lid on top and while she's doing that, he's rolling the other one off the surface so she can pour on a new batch.  They made about 2 a minute this way.

The fire is down that hole... they are using the husks off the rice as fuel - nothing wasted.

He rolls the noodle sheet off on to a woven mat.

Someone else carries the mats outside for drying.  There are 4 of these burner stations here so lots to keep him busy.

They lay out in the sun for 4 hours

And then they stack them together and feed them one by one into the slicing machine.

She catches the sliced up noodles and packages them with a string

She also worked her magic on our breakfast!

Jack Fruit

We went for a walk to see the rice paddies (and a 9 meter Boa!) while she paddled along

A "Monkey Bridge"

Then we had a real breakfast by the river

And said goodbye to Uncle Ho as we headed out to Mui Ne

The next am, we got a private driver to take us to Mui Ne (through Saigon).  Gotta run.