The Mighty Mekong

We hit the road today at 8:30 and as expected it took quite awhile to clear HCMC.  Once out, we hit some good highway where no motorbikes were allowed, with a speed limit of 100 km, which is unusual.  Large flat rice paddies, most of which had one or more tombs located haphazardly somewhere in the field.  It's no longer allowed to put a tomb in productive land such as this, as the need for food is too great.  After an hour and a half, we stopped for a stretch and an iced coffee.  Vietnamese coffee with ice and condensed milk.  I'm not normally into something like that, but these were very good.  Three of them cost $2. 

Our coffee and happy place stop

It wasn't too much longer before we made it to the river, where we saw several sizable groups heading to the boats.  I thought we'd be a part of one of them, but give it to Mrs Ha again, we had our own boat.  Sweet!  We puttered past a small local market, then pulled in to a dock, where we got out and watched some small scale industry in action.  Caramel candy, popped rice, and Mekong whiskey (yes we got some candy and whiskey).  We discovered that Nhung has quite a sweet tooth.

Eileen and Nhung discussing the candy making

Vietnamese popcorn (rice) maker

After departing this dock, we went to the other side of the river, where we all boarded a small rowboat, operated by a rather elderly woman, who took us up a narrow tributary that cut through the mangroves.  I'm not sure how long we were on this boat, but it was certainly over a half hour and she was paddling against the tide for half the time.

Blending in with the locals

exiting the mangroves, the original boat picked us up, and took us for about an hour, along what I thought was a branch of the Mekong, but we were actually going around an island.  The tide was really low, so our speed was slow at times.  A lot of interesting houses and boat traffic. I cannot imagine what this lifestyle would be like.

Home along the river

One of many small boats

We arrived at our lunch spot a little later than I think we had planned (3:00), but it was good (appetite has returned, horray!)  Highlight was a Mekong specialty, elephant ear fish. 

Elephant Ear fish

We got back on the boat for a short trip back to the car, with a full stomach Eileen had a little relax time at the back of the boat.

A little relax time

I think it was about an hour to Can Tho and the hotel.  We crossed the Mekong a couple of times, including once on a very impressive bridge that was built with some Japanese help.  This has not been the first bridge in Vietnam that has been a Wow moment, but I think this one might be the winner.  No decent picture though....
Awesome hotel in Can Tho, a very colonial looking building with a large pool and big landscaped property.  Would be a nice spot to have a little more leisure time.

View of hotel, river is behind me

And finally, a card that is on the desk in our room, that I had to smile at, and which Eileen outright laughed at.  Instant thoughts of a friend from home, you know who you are.

We had a couple of happy hour beer at the bar here, and saw that the restaurant prices were pretty steep.  Nhung had said that there were eating places at both sides of the resort, so we headed to one of them.  The one we picked covered a large area, each table was basically it's own island, surrounded by Mekong water (not out in the main channel but certainly connected).  We had a seafood and mixed mushroom hot pot (that we could not finish) and four beer, for a cost of $12.50.  Crazy.
Tomorrow, we get to a boat early and putter through a large floating market.  It's supposed to be quite a scene.  We then drive up to the Cambodia border where we have to say goodbye to Nhung and our driver.  We will be exchanging email addresses for sure, she has just been too much fun.