The bus ride was long enough (almost five hours), so I was certainly grateful to pull into Can Tho a bit earlier than expected. After checking in and a little shopping on the waterfront we settled down for dinner with a view out over the river. The highlight for me was a fantastic drink made of lime juice and mint syrup. It was so good I had it again the next day.
Valentine's Day came extra early for us. We were up at 5:30 and on a small boat by 6. Our destination: the Cai Rang floating market. As we motored down the river, our guide crafted all sorts of objects out of reeds. Boats flaunting everything from pineapples to mangoes and bananas dotted the river when we reached the market area. In between the larger wholesale merchants darted smaller boats selling drinks, breakfast or other conveniences.
We continued down the river a bit past the market and headed up a small canal to a little village, where we saw how the equipment for making rice noodles and a small little farm.
The night before we had booked a bus, hotel and boat package to take us to Chau Doc near the border of Cambodia and then on to Phnom Penh. It was nice to not have to worry about finding accommodations or boat tickets in Chau Doc, although we did have to stop at a pretty lame crocodile farm on the way to Chau Doc. But I guess it was nice to stretch our legs, and the milkshakes were phenomenal. We then had one more stop on our journey to Chau Doc. Near the city is the tallest mountain in the area and it's covered in temples, so we stopped by to check out a couple of Buddhist temples that included caves. That was worth the visit, and the view from the temples out toward Cambodia was great.
For dinner we settled on a couple of street-side bowls of Pho - maybe the quintessential Vietnamese dish. Unfortunately this was the first bowl we had in Vietnam. I'll blame that primarily on my stomach problems that made street food seem like a poor choice for a couple days there.
I think I could have spent a little more time in Chau Doc, checking out some of the culture and the floating fish farms/homes, but it was nice to be on the way to Phnom Penh at an early hour. The boat ride was nice enough, and it was cool to watch the landscape change to a much drier one, but it also dragged on a bit, especially the immigration run around. But eventually we made it to our destination with plenty of daylight left.
Next up: Phnom Penh.
Valentine's Day came extra early for us. We were up at 5:30 and on a small boat by 6. Our destination: the Cai Rang floating market. As we motored down the river, our guide crafted all sorts of objects out of reeds. Boats flaunting everything from pineapples to mangoes and bananas dotted the river when we reached the market area. In between the larger wholesale merchants darted smaller boats selling drinks, breakfast or other conveniences.
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| Breakfast is served! |
We continued down the river a bit past the market and headed up a small canal to a little village, where we saw how the equipment for making rice noodles and a small little farm.
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| Canal to the village. |
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| Cave entrance. |
For dinner we settled on a couple of street-side bowls of Pho - maybe the quintessential Vietnamese dish. Unfortunately this was the first bowl we had in Vietnam. I'll blame that primarily on my stomach problems that made street food seem like a poor choice for a couple days there.
I think I could have spent a little more time in Chau Doc, checking out some of the culture and the floating fish farms/homes, but it was nice to be on the way to Phnom Penh at an early hour. The boat ride was nice enough, and it was cool to watch the landscape change to a much drier one, but it also dragged on a bit, especially the immigration run around. But eventually we made it to our destination with plenty of daylight left.
Next up: Phnom Penh.
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