Can Tho

arrived at the bus station and hopped on a moto for 20,000
right away to Hien Guesthouse 2 where I got a decent fan room for
$8usd with a tv, and wifi, and it might have had a hot shower too but
I was too hot already. Good spot, very friendly staff. Me and the
Italian couple booked a boat trip through a friend of the owner and
after some negotiation we got a 6hour trip for $10usd each which is
apparently a pretty standard rate. The boat trip was really sweet. The
floating markets are nothing that special but cruising through the
smaller canals and rivers was really great, very peaceful and our boat
lady was really funny and friendly even though she spoke no English.
We also went to a rice noodle factory (not really a factory though,
more of a shack where they make rice noodles) which was actually
really cool. When doing a boat trip try to arrange to spend as much
time in the small side canals as possible. We passed by a on one of
the smaller rivers, away from town which could be cool, Homestay My
Thuan (tel: 07103845538, 01228082127) don't know anything about it but
I'd give it a shot. Can Tho is a very nice city with a really nice
river front with restaurants and a dinner cruise we tried to do but
missed. I only spent one night there but would recommend staying
longer.

Leaving Can Tho was a bit of a mess. I didn't book a mini-bus ahead of
time (Hien Guesthouse sells tickets for $5usd but they were sold out,
staff there said to go to the main bus station). I went to another
hotel that had mini-busses parked out front but they told me they were
booked up until 4pm, then was told 7pm, then 530pm then a big nice bus
pulled up that was the return portion of a 3 day organized tour from
Saigon. They told me that it was full a couple times but I decided to
hang around anyway which paid off and I was able to get a seat on it
for 160,000vnd. A little expensive but its a nice AC bus with no
hassles and it's dropping me off right in the main backpackers area of
Saigon so it's definitely worth it. And I ended up sitting next to a
very nice Canadian girl who gave me some of here Hawaiian pizza which
was delicious!