On February 16, we took a van to the Vietnam border where we had to show our passports & visas four times. Then we got in another van that took us to HaTien, very close to the border. There a nice man hailed a taxi for us which too us to our hotel. Taxi cost was 100,000 dong…$4. It'll take us awhile to learn to calculate dong to $! After a shower to cool us down, we went in search of an eSIM we can use in Vietnam. It took a bit of walking in several stops but we succeeded. I need to find out more about eSIM cause it was a pain—took the girl about 30 minutes. It's suppose to be easier than the old SIM card that you just popped in! The front desk directed us to a supermarket where we got cheese, crackers, oranges, beer & 2 Coke lights for $5. We ate on our balcony listening to the birds & street noise. I enjoyed watching a little boy clop around in his mom's high heel shoes. Our room had a TV so we tried to find something to watch but only found an old Tom Cruise show…Mission Impossible. Ugh. Good thing we both have good books to read & like playing cribbage. The next morning we got on the bus to Cam Tho. It's called a sleeper cause all the seats lay almost flat. There's two tiers & we were on the top which gave us a great view. The 5 hour trip followed a river that's a tributary of the Mekong. Villages & homes filled both sides of the river. Most villages were much like Cambodia-open store fronts & restaurants with meat cooking on a grill and those large styrofoam boxes wrapped in yellow tape probably storing cold food. Almost all flew the Vietnam flag and many had bars across the front. The houses right on the river were pretty dilapidated though occasionally one gorgeous one would appear. Potted yellow carnations were everywhere which drew your eye so you could overlook the trash. Hammocks were plentiful especially in the restaurants. The river had lots of traffic-big barges to small fishing boats and everything in between! Many flying flags & with a pot of yellow carnations! Multiple fingers of the mighty Mekong reached out across the area creating areas for riverside homes to be built where a boat ride could take you & your load to town. The fingers surrounded fields of rice, banana trees & gardens. I only saw a few people unless they were on a motorcycle. Our giant bus occasionally met another bus & show how they squeezed by each other in those narrow streets often lined with rice drying or other products. Our bus only made one bathroom stop and I thought—really, this is the best one around??? We crawled off the bus, stretched a minutes and soon Rog was surrounded by offers to take us to the homestay we'd reserved. A guy offered to take us for $8 so Rog agreed. Then he & his buddy left for a minute and came back with their motorcycles. They each threw our suitcases in front of them & handed us a helmet. I put on my backpack & hopped on. Rog took my phone to take a picture & before he could hand it back to me, my guy took off. So there I was wearing flip flops & shorts, riding with a stranger I couldn't communicate with, not really knowing where we were going cause Rog made the plans…and with no phone & Rog hopefully somewhere behind me. I admit it did freak me out a bit especially when we stopped & Rog wasn't anywhere in sight. He did eventually catch up & soon we took a small rough lane which ended up at the right place. A thrill ride for just $4 each! Kids—don't even think about doing this!!! Our Mekong Homestay is quite rustic but our bungalow looks over a river, has a western bathroom, fan & mosquito net. We got a cold water and then rested up before they served us a really nice dinner of stir fry vegetables, rice & egg rolls. We got in bed early hoping to avoid mosquitoes. Actually they never did show up!
Our homestay offered us bikes so we got up early the next morning and took off riding. There was little traffic and the road was good. It was a nice way to get up close and feel a part of the this smaller village we're in. We joined others for breakfast of fried eggs & roll. We have enjoyed visiting with several other people staying here. Travelers easily connect & one of guys on the staff speaks great English and spent quite a while on our porch talking to us. He learned English from watching Hollywood movies. Rog took another bike ride a bit later & I caught up on my writing while seeing the tide rise the water level and watching a few boats paddle by.
