Moving along the Mekong :) {Cath}

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We woke up at 6am to be packed and ready for our motorbike taxis to take us to our ferry to Rach Gia. The road from our resort into town was extra beautiful in the early morning sun shine.

It was kind of sad riding out of the town for the last time. It's a really tough decision to make, to leave paradise for the sake of a new unknown adventure... Phu Quoc is paradise!

The little island was surprisingly busy place at 6am! There were people all along the road going about their business, getting ready for the day.

We were dropped off at the bus stop where we plonked our bags off onto two empty seats, and, with about 10min to go before departure time we decided to go and find some breakfast. We were busy paying, when all of a sudden there was some frantic hooting coming from outside the shop! Our bus had decided that regardless of what it said on the ticket, it was time to go! 😊 We made one or two more stops for more passengers before we were bumping down the dusty road to the harbour.

The ferry was more of a large room with a few bolted down plastic seats than a boat! 😊 There were a few small windows on either side of the boat which would have made for a really nauseating ride had the weather been at all bad. As it was the sea was like glass and the boat was so steady we may have been standing still. It was great to be able to catch up on a few post cards and a bit of reading.

When we reached the other harbour, a small wooden ramp was balanced between the ferry and the harbour for us to walk out on! 😊
And, almost as soon as we'd placed a foot on terra firma we had a tout asking us where we wanted to go. 'Motto?'. I'm not sure how much clearer we could have made it, 'No, we don't want a ride, we want to walk' -with all the appropriate actions and everything - it just didn't seem to sink in.

We started on our way to the post office to mail our post cards with our very own tout following us the entire way... and then waited for us outside while we did all our posting! 😊 We took the opportunity to use some of the computers in the post office to email home about our engagement! wohoo! and maybe just maybe shake off our tout! Easier said than done... after a while he even came into the post office to see if we were still there, and if we needed a 'moto'!

After about an hour we decided it was probably safe. We cautiously emerged out of post office (checking left, right, and left again), and when we were sure we were on our own, we headed off in the direction of the bus stop.

We both felt a lot more watched in Rach Gia than in any other place in Vietnam so far. The streets are pretty dirty and the town seems to operate in an organised chaos system. We eventually popped out at a big opening with a whole bunch of buses in it! -I guess the bus stop! There were no obvious ticket buildings near by, and when we started asking around, we were pointed in about 3 different directions! 😊 tour d' bus station!! We finally located a little ticket office and managed to russel up a couple of tickets to Can Tho

Luckily for us, our bus... or rather minivan, had aircon!! What a treat! I almost had to put on a jersey 😊 The trip was about 3 hours long, and although I'd love to have seen the scenery change along the way... I simply could not stay awake!

I really feel a but stupid, I really thought that Can Tho would be a small hamlet. Well, not quite... It's a really built up city! Surprise! And, surprise, the minute our feet touched ground we had our regular swarm of 'moto' groupies! we managed to fight off all but one... who kept following us, trying to help us by telling us where to go 😊 We were hoping to see a market, just off the way into the city center, but our 'guide' kept on telling us that we were going the wrong way... eventually we took his advice (mostly just to make him go away) and ended up missing out on the market. Oh well.

We did, on the up side, arrive into the city center a bit earlier than planned. And as Darrell was struggling with a headache, we chose to find our accomodation quickly.

Our room was small, holding only a bed, a TV and a fan, with the tiniest en-suite bathroom you've ever seen! You could just about sit on the loo, wash your hands in the basin and take a shower all at the same time! 😊 but it was only $6 for the room, so who cares!! 😊

We settled our bill with the owner, who then tried to get us to buy one of his package Floating Market tours for $30. We were so sick and tired of package tours that we decided to take our chances on our own at the riverside. The hotel owner did not like this idea at all and immediately changed from friendly, to sulky and insisted that there was no way that we could find a lower price. Well, that was all the encouragement we needed 😊

It turns out that finding a really deal is not nearly as difficult as the hotel owner was making it out to be! Within a few minutes of walking down the waterfront, we were approach by a lady offering Floating Market tours 😊 We turned her down, and a second lady came up to us offering her tour. She wanted to know what we'd pay, so we told her $20... and she said 'OK!' 😊 wohoo!

All the restaurants along the waterfront were packed with tourists, so we carried on to see if there was anything further down the way. There was a big restaurant cruise ship in the harbour, so we decided to go and see what it was all about. I think we were a little under dressed for the venue, what with our jeans, takkies and well worn travelling tops, and everyone else there in their Sunday bests! 😊 but we were curious 😊

The ship was really beautiful! Needless to say, it had a really beautiful view of the river, and the tables inside the ship we well laid out for fine dining. Right in the centre of the restaurant were some really big bottles that looked like they were holding a tea of some sort... but no, what we were really looking at was some 'good for stamina' concoction made of bear's paws and snakes 'eating' ravens! uuugh! 😞 No thanks!

We eventually found a small Italian restaurant tucked around the corner and thought, 'why not'. What a good move! Too full to move, we waved down a motorized cyclo to take us home.

What a great day!

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Photos

Streets of Rach Gia
Really old building sandwiched between some newer ones

Bears feet
A rather gruesome health wine

Snake wine
One of the more common health drinks