Can Tho

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Can Tho

We took an early bus to Can Tho, about four hours away from Ben Tre. Ben went in search of a hotel while I looked after the bags, and a lady selling goods on the street invited me to sit with her. I watched as people came and went on their motorbikes to buy drinks, or even a single cigarette. One lady came by and said she thought I was beautiful, pointing to the fact I had a pointy nose and not a flat one! It’s funny what other people notice! We had a cracking dinner in Can Tho - I went in search of a bargain, and came back with a two course dinner (that tasted really good!) for 10,000 dong - about 40p. We had a rice dish with meat and a quail egg, followed by a coconut rice/pancake dessert. The street stalls are the best way to go for a bargain, and they're tasty.

We spent the day in Can Tho on a boat, rising early at 05.30 to watch the sunrise from the river. The benefit of getting up early was mainly to see the floating markets that are most active in the morning. There were big boats and small boats, some boats being rowed standing up by ladies at least over 70! There were boats stacked with fruits and vegetables, and to make a trade or a sale, the boats would just side up against each other. In order to know what each boat had for sale, one of the products was raised on a pole at the front of the boat. It was great to watch and we were in a small boat so we could squeeze right into the trade area, and get in the way of sales! It was good to see a genuine market in action, purely for the locals, and it looked pretty with the ladies adorning the iconic conical straw hats.

Our boat trip also stopped so we could visit a rice noodle family business and we went through some narrow river areas to the countryside which was scenic. We stopped at a rice paddy and saw snail eggs which are in fact bright pink!

(Boat trip was 8 hours and cost us $15 USD per person in our own boat - 2 pax)

After the long boat ride back to Can Tho, we headed to the bus station and got a bus back to Saigon, on which we were once again the centre of attention, particularly from a mother and daughter who were desperate to communicate but we just couldn't converse! They looked at our books, stared for a long time, held my arm, played with my key chain and even touched my nose!

We spent the night in Saigon, and headed out the next morning in the direction of Mui Ne...

J x x

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