Rolling on the Mekong River

Alright, this has to be a quick entry. In about 30 minutes, I have to get ready for....a SIXTEEN HOUR TRAIN RIDE. Ugggggh. I feel like we just got off the 12 hour bus ride from Nha Trang to Hoi An! But here we are, planning another long trip. I seriously doubted the length of Vietnam's coast. You win, coastline.

When we crossed into Vietnam from Cambodia, we cobbled together a transit strategy that went something like: tuk tuk to the border, motorbike through the border crossing and to the Ha Tien bus station, mini van to Rach Gia, mini van to Can Tho. I was pretty impressed by our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-sweat-wicking-pants-ness there. We also managed to avoid the scammer bus (if anyone w/great English and a smile approaches you at a bus/taxi/train station, AVOID.)

Can Tho, the name comes from "cầm thi giang" - river of poems (love that), is a city in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam. The area produces 50% of Vietnam's rice and is famous for their floating markets, where people buy and sell things on the Mekong River.

We hired a boat and guide from our hotel. They sailed us down the Mekong, through the markets, to a rice noodle factory, past countryside and fruit trees, etc etc. The area around the Mekong is so lush and green. There wasn't too much trash on the water/banks, which was a nice and different sight after Cambodia.

Ah! I'm running late! Here are some photos! More on Vietnam and our motorcycle trip with the Dalat Easy Riders in the next entry...stay tuned! And the Internet sucks...so you'll only get two. Sorry! More when I get some reliable internet. We're off to Hanoi!