More multiple modes of transport...after leaving Phu Quoc by speed boat we were hurried into a minibus to make our way to the town of Can Tho in the Mekong Delta. The bus in true South East Asia style dropped us miles outside of town leaving us no choice but to get a motorbike to the hotel. Can Tho is quite a small town with some interesting food markets to browse around. The town felt even smaller when we were followed all the way round it by a stealth boat lady who had previously spoken to Heather about a boat tour the following day. It was only when Heather confronted her she stopped following us. We did actually want a tour but after her seedy actions we decided to book with the hotel. The next day we were up at the crack of dawn before the sun had even shown its face for a 5.30am start on a epic 7 hour boat trip. It turned out our boat driver spoke no English but he still delivered a fantastic trip. He took us to all the floating markets and bought us some grapefruits and pineapple that had been cut into a sort of fruit lolly. We went to a factory where they make rice paper and rice noodles and following this we meandered through the smaller narrower rivers. It was here we got out and strolled through the mangroves, local villages and farms and carefully crossed the narrow make shift bridges. We returned in the baking midday sun and headed stright for a cafe for a cold drink. A perfect morning.

We left Can Tho that afternoon on the advice of the hotel to get a motorbike to the bus station and buy a ticket on arrival....bad idea! The bus was leaving within minutes of us arriving so we were hustled onto a local bus on an overpriced ticket. In true local bus style we were moved to sit on the bumpy back seats. After an hours trip we were then dropped on the side of the road 10k from our destination and told we had to get a motorbike into town. After arguing with the bus driver but to no avail...he strangely once there was a problem spoke no English we sucked it up and got the bikes into town. After all this hassle we got into Vinh Long and debated what to do next as we wanted to organise a homestay. Luckily we got chatting to a tour guide and he recommended a place and rang to get us booked in and even organisd a pick up. This was a better end to the afternoon after getting ripped off earlier. The Bay Thoi homestay was less of a homestay and more of a family run guesthouse but never the less it was really relaxed. We were treated to an enormous feast for dinner with a whole fish, (which I ate as Heather doesn't eat fish) plenty of meat, vegetables an rice. Unfortunately we did have a sour end to the stay when Heather accidently left her bag outside and byt the time we returned it had gone. It had a bank card and cash therefore the next morning the owner of the guest house drove Heather to a phone shop to ring and cancel here card. This turned out to be only one incident from the night as may other guests had there stuff taken from rooms. As you can well imagine the boat trip we were organised to go on that morning had a rather sombre mood as people reeled from the night before. The boat trip was also no match for the one the previous day therefore that afternoon we decided to head off to Ho Chi Minh City.