farewell Vietnam

After leaving the rest of the crew, Y and I have fumbled our way to the Mekong delta where we spent last night and tonight. We got up early today and hired a small motor boat to take us up the river to visit the floating market where they buy and sell fruits/vegetables from boats. After being reassured the boat would actually make it, we spent the next few hours riding around the smaller canals. Our driver was a man of few, or actually zero, words so it was a pretty peaceful trip away from the Can Thao. After our boat trip we mostly spent the day running errands and trying to make arrangements for the next leg of our trip. The good part about not planning every detail is we have some flexibility, but we've come to realize we have to accept the drawbacks of spending time now talking to tour agents and maybe not being able to do everything we thought we could. Instead of taking a boat up the Mekong river into cambodia we have to settle for a bus ride. The boat left too early from a city it will take us 3-4 hrs to get to, so we're booked on a 530am bus tomorrow morning...ugh. But after that we can take a boat to the next city on Thursday, so hopefully I will be able to live out my fantasy of traveling around SE Asia by boat. Although with the small taste today, I don't know why I'm still grasping this fantasy-- after 3 hrs on a small, slow motor boat with hard benches, we were ready to call it quits.

Although we've had a few minor set backs, we've managed to jump right into managing our own trip and go cold turkey from the cushy digs we started out in. We even managed to squeeze in a manicure this afternoon to reward ourselves. Although Y somehow ended up with a 80s crackle paint job...we still considered it a victory. Our victory dance was short lived when we stumbled into a place for dinner. In an attempt to get out of the tourist area we wandered down some smaller streets and went into a place crowded with Vietnamese...isn't that what you're supposed to do when looking for a place to eat?? There were no menus and no one spoke english, but we understood there were three choices listed on the wall (all Pho soup). We rolled the dice and pointed to two choices-- and lost. big time. I don't consider myself picky eater, but I found my limits...and it's trying to eat noodles & broth while a pig's toe nail keeps bobbing up to the surface. I thought I could just avoid the boiled pigs foot & other mystery meats, but I was wrong. Y couldn't do it either, so we threw in the towel and headed next door to buy sandals instead. Luckily a nice pair of cheap sandals makes everything better.

I'll write more from Cambodia...if we survive the 8 hr bus ride tomorrow!