The Kindness of a Stranger

It was unusual that we were sound asleep at 9:00 AM when the front desk rang our room.  Mr. Triet was downstairs. Of all the rotten luck to have finally found a hotel that was quiet in the morning when we set an early appointment. Phyl & I threw on clothes and went downstairs. We nailed down a few details and agreed to the tour. Unlike all other tours where we paid ½ at the start and ½ at the completion of the tour, Mr. Triet wanted ½ immediately. We did not have that much money as we had intended to stop at an ATM during the day, so I had to go out, into the blinding sunlight without my sunglasses, in search of an ATM. The first 2 ATMs would not give me money. I then had to walk 10 blocks to get the money, and by the time I returned to the hotel, was sweating.  Mr. Triet was paid the requisite ½ and we returned to our room.

P- Baby, I can see by that look on your face that you are already pissed off.

G- I hate the damn morning to begin with and to have to jump out of bed and then run around town, sweating, in search of an ATM totally pisses me off!!!

P- I know, I know, and even without that look on your face I knew that you were very unhappy. You lie back in bed and I'll go get us some coffee.

G- You think that ass wipe could have waited until this afternoon or tomorrow morning for the money? I tried to make it abundantly clear that we were asleep when he called and that I didn't want to run around town just yet.

P- I think he could have waited, but he didn't think so. I'll go get the coffee and you try to get yourself into a better frame of mind.

G- Whah! Ok. Thank you.

P- Don't whine.

Several hours later we left our room in search of lunch and a tailor. The washrag that we had been using for the past several months would no longer come clean, so we had decided to have our hand towel cut in half. The first seamstress we came to, her sewing machine in the middle of the sidewalk outside of a clothing store, waved us off with utter disinterest. We entered a shop a few doors down and approached a woman sewing a pair of pants. She did not speak any English, so our entire conversation took place via pantomime.............. I put the towel on her table, pointed to her, then made scissor cutting motions, with my fingers, across the middle of the towel. Phyl then ran her fingers across the edge and pointed to her sewing machine. She smiled and nodded, took the towel, and pointed to 2 chairs.

G- Yes! That wasn't too difficult.

P- Good idea to cut this towel that we never use.

G- Now we'll have a washrag and a cloth to wipe sweat.

P- I wonder how much she's going to charge us.

G- I'm sure it won't be much.

P- Do you see the legs behind the counter? I just noticed them.

G- That must be the husband.

P- He's just sleeping on the floor. I'm sure that's comfortable.

G- I guess he had nothing to connect his hammock to and they sit on the floor so much I guess it's no big deal to take a nap there.

P- I know you think I can fall asleep anywhere, but even I couldn't sleep on the hard, dirty floor.

She cut the towel in half, then started to change the thread to a color that matched, but we waived at her and indicated that whatever color thread she had was fine. She sewed the 2 cuts ends in only a few minutes. I pulled out my wallet to indicate payment and she waived me off.

Us – (bowing slightly) Gam-on. (thank you)

We ate lunch, strolled along the river, sat for a long time watching ships pass, children swim, and sellers set up their shops for the night market, then returned to the hotel to relax in the a/c. 

P- OMG!  Just when you think you've seen it all!!!! A sofa being transported on a motorcycle!!!

G- How did they strap it securely enough?  I know it's not a big one, but that is amazing!

P- These people can transport anything on a motorcycle.

G- There goes an armoir type cabinet.

P- It must be moving day for someone.  I guess he called all of his friends to move his entire apartment of stuff on motorcycles.

G- Can you imagine that at home?  We have to rent a truck or borrow one from a friend.  It's a major production.  If the cops caught you with a sofa on your motorcycle, you'd probably be arrested. Here, it's no big deal.  I like the idea of it.  The simplicity.

P- Definitely!  We've made everything so complicated in the U.S.

Around 6:30 we went back to the river for a light dinner and apple pie with vanilla ice cream that we had seen on the menu at the restaurant where we ate lunch.  Neither of us love apple pie, but we had the idea put into our heads by a friend who is currently in India and wrote, on Facebook, about eating apple pie.  The power of suggestion!  Unfortunately, when we arrived, a tour group had taken over the restaurant and we would have had to wait for an hour and a half, so we didn't get our pie.

Eco Nightmare

The only unfortunate thing about Can Tho is that in order to get to the river, we had to walk past a woman selling durian (smells like ass). On one occasion we walked through a park on the river to avoid the durian seller, only to see a rat run across the path and freaking Phyllis out. It was much smaller than the rats one might see along the Mississippi River, but she hates all rats equally. It must be stated that as a child, I had a very sweet, domesticated, pet rat. Yes, a rat. Not a hamster or a mouse, a rat; I liked him very much!! Thus, I am not predisposed to hating rats and think there is actually no difference between squirrels, which most people find cute, or hamsters or chipmunks or rats.

On the first morning Phyllis went in search of coffee. Just when we want a Starbucks, there is none to be found; maybe because they're not allowed in Vietnam. I insisted that she would not find coffee 'to go', but after only 20 minutes, she returned triumphant.

P- I stopped in one place that appeared to be a type of coffee/breakfast shop, but one spoke English. I did everything I could to indicate that I wanted a cup of coffee..................I held out my hand like a saucer, and held my fingers like I was holding a coffee cup, then I pretended to drink and said “coffee”, but the waitress just stared at me like I had 3 eyes, and some of the customers laughed. I gave up and went back onto the street. I walked passed a market and was watching a woman cut the heads off of live, little fish, with a scissors, when I saw a coffee cart. I pointed, held up 2 fingers and watched as she poured a little condensed milk into a plastic cup, add a little thick, black coffee, then hot water. It cost only 18,000 for 2 (about 95 cents).

G- I am so proud of you!! Thank you so much for bringing me coffee.

P- And it is French dripped and taste delicious!

We lounged, drank our coffee, then walked to, and along the river. We ate lunch at Mekong Cafe, walked to a statue of Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh, ruler of Vietnam after the war), sat on a bench and watched the river traffic and pedestrians go past, and drank a few beers at a 2nd story cafe where the owner found us to be quite amusing and let us take pictures in her conical hat. We sat for several hours at her cafe watching several boats being loaded with cargo, presumably to be taken up or down the river.

G- This is really amazing. Everything is done by hand.

P- Well the cargo boats aren't very big and not the kind that could be loaded with a crane.

G- What crane? There are no cranes around here. Maybe further down the river where the real ships are loaded.

P- I love the way that everything is brought down the ramp on a motorcycle or on someone's back.

G- Look at the shiny new bikes being handed up to the roof of the boats.

P- Yes, and small refrigerators, tires, stacks of plastic chairs and tables.......

G- You mean fine dining furniture?

P- Fine dining if you're a kindergartener. Look at that guy carrying 8 cases of beer on his back! I'm enjoying this breeze too.

G- Yes, this is great! I like just sitting here and watching a slice of everyday life. It really is smarter to carry that beer on his back rather than trying to hold it in front of himself. It puts the weight on his legs rather than his back.

P- They sure do know how to carry things.

We returned to our hotel to cool off and take a nap, then went back to the river for dinner. The riverfront had been transformed with “restaurants” (food being cooked on mobile grills, under canopies, with plastic (adult sized) tables and chairs along the railing). We ordered grilled boar meat and a hot pot. The grill was actually brought to our table and sat atop a typical burner, a terracotta pot filled with hot charcoals. The meat had been marinated and was brought on a plate with okra. Of course Phyl did the grilling. The boar meat was amazingly tender and we really loved the okra which we had never before eaten grilled. We were extremely careful not to bump the plastic table leg as neither of us wanted to end up with hot coals in our laps.

The hot pot, kind've like a Vietnamese fondue, had just arrived and we had just begun to add the vegetables, when we watched a woman clearing the table next to us. We sat completely dumbfounded, our mouths agape, as we watched her pick the trash off the table and THROW IT OVER THE RAILING INTO THE RIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The left over food items were placed into one bowl and carried back to the 'kitchen'.



P- You’ve got to be shittin' me!!!!

G- I know that I did not just watch that woman throw all of the garbage into the river. No wonder the rivers are full of trash.

P- I wasn't finding Vietnam to have as much trash along the roads and streets as the other countries we visited. That must be why. They just throw the trash into the river to be carried out to the China Sea.

A western man and woman sat at another table watching our faces and our reactions. He laughed when he caught my eye. I shook my head, mouth still hanging open.

Michael – We'll just let the river carry away our garbage.

P – It's unbelievable!!

G- No problem, it'll just end up in that big Pacific garbage patch. I'm really confused by this complete lack of regard for their environment. Why did she throw the trash in the river but carry away the biodegradable food items that actually could have been thrown into the river?

Michel – They don't get it. In the states she would be strung up by all of the people sitting around us, but here, no one cares. I've never learned to understand the thinking.

Edit – He lived in China for 16 years so he's use to it.

P- It's terrible.

G- I'm mortified.


We finished eating our dinner and then joined the couple, Michael & Edit for a drink. She is Hungarian & Michael is American, but they live in Paris and are trying to move to Shanghai, China. Michael reminded us of Michelle because he hadn't gotten his run in that morning and was going for a run after dinner. We enjoyed speaking to them, were, of course, envious that they lived in Paris, and hope to visit them if we pass through Paris on our sweep of Europe at the end of our trip.

Word must have been sent out that new people had checked in because as we entered our hotel we were greeted by Mr. Triet, a tour operator offering Mekong Delta tours. We very much wanted to take a Mekong River tour, but we hate 'tours', the being herded on and off buses and told when to start, when to eat, what to see, and when to use the bathroom. We told Mr. Triet what we wanted to do and he pulled out his map and offered us a private tour, with an English speaking guide, in a long boat. The price was $115.00 per person for a 2 day tour with an overnight stay at a homestay. We told him that we had to discuss it and would let him know the next morning. He agreed to meet us at 9:00 AM in the lobby.

Back in our room, Phyl took the first bath she had taken since Lombok, Indonesia, several months ago.
Of course there was still no shower curtain, so I sat in the tub, holding the sprayer over my head, happy not to be getting the bathroom floor wet. Tiny pleasures!

Drying Rice on the Road

Our bus to Can Tho was scheduled to leave at 12:30 so we arrived at the cafe at 11:30 so we could get something to eat. There wasn't much on the menu, so we ordered fried rice which turned out to be quite different than the norm and was really stir fried vegetables over white rice. We enjoyed it more than we expected. Unfortunately, the bus was over an hour late, so we sat until 1:30 chatting with Julie & Danny, 2 Brits who are also traveling for a year.


The ride to Can Tho took 6 hours with a stop at some midpoint town to drop off passengers. Vietnam's countryside was already different from Cambodia's because it was green with rice growing in the fields surrounding the road. This was likely due to the fact that we were in the Mekong Delta, with an abundance of water, eliminating the dependence on rainfall. Also, the rice was being harvested and lined the road, left to dry in the sun.

P- Why are these people allowed to dry their rice on the road?

G- I don't know. Maybe because they just do whatever they want.

P- Well it shouldn't be allowed. They build a 2 lane road for vehicles, and because they're putting their rice all over the road, the traffic has to keep stopping and maneuvering around the rice.

G- I don't think they give a damn how you feel about it.

P- You'd think non-rice growing tax payers would be pissed that they have to keep stopping and going around these peoples' rice.

G- Um, it doesn't work like that here. They don't think that way. If it's rice harvesting/drying time, the rice has to be dried. It's just a fact of life. Not something they get pissed about.

P- Well I'm tired of having to stop.  These bus rides are long enough without having to stop every 30 seconds.

G- (Just then our bus driver drove right over a long expanse of drying rice.) Happy now?

P- Yes.

The roads and towns through Vietnam were definitely more built up than in Cambodia, and Vietnam was clearly more industrialized, with larger cities. The ride was pleasant and beautiful and we chatted with a girl, Anna, from Montreal, Canada. We even passed through a town that was having a parade!  Upon arrival in Can Tho, we were deposited in front of a hotel. I waited with the luggage while Phyl & Anna walked around looking for hotel rooms. Anna found a place, but we were having less luck. Finally, after 1 hour of searching, we happened across a great place for $15.00/night, only 2 blocks from the river.

G- This place is great! You did an excellent job!

P- I told them I'd take it the minute she opened the door. Go look in the bathroom.

G- OMG! A bathtub!!! We can bathe or shower without getting the whole bathroom wet.

P- I know! I'm very excited.

The room was clearly newly renovated with pale yellow walls, a flat screen TV mounted to the wall opposite the bed, a mini fridge, and a large bathroom. The piece de resistance, not 1 but 2 rolls of toilet paper!!!!!!!!!! Our toilet paper would not be rationed at this hotel. The final thing that made our love complete was the wifi router mounted to the wall just outside of our door. We were ecstatic!

We intended to stay only 1 day, but stayed 2 because we so enjoyed the room and the riverfront.