The Oddysey - Can Tho, Vietnam

Yes, more whining is surely to follow so get ready...It involves a tuk-tuk, 2 motos, 2 buses and a taxi.

Left my hotel in Kampot this morning at 8:30 and arrived at the new one in Can Tho, Vietnam at 5:00 pm. The hotel is only $15/night, but for once, I'm getting what I paid for. What a dump. Were it not already paid for and the fact that no one there seems to know any English other than 'passport', I'd try to get my money back and go elsewhere. Oh well, live and learn.

The tuk-tuk took basically about 2 hours to get to Vietnam. Took the same road to Kep initially and then veered off on yet another red dirt road which wasn't in all that bad a shape at first given the rains the past couple of days. Again, mile after mile of amazing scenery...folks planting rice, that sort of thing. The road was basically OK except for the last kilometer. It's as if the Cambodian government figured, whoever is on this road is leaving anyway...why bother to do anything to maintain it even a little. I truly regret that I did not film that stretch.

At the border the tuk-tuk guy inofrmed me that the town where the bus is caught wasnot walking distance. Indeed, it was like 10km away. Lucky for me, his buddy would take me on his moto for $5. "But what about my heavy suitcase?" I wondered. No problem. Sure enough, the driver positioned it bewteen his legs and with me on the back, off we went. The first thing I noticed upon crossing the border was the asphalt. As in, the fact that it existed. Good start.

Arrive at the bus station (really, it was a small section of a small parking lot) and rode right up to this guy's buddy. Wow! Such luck! He tells me that the bus for Can Tho left for the day, but for $5, he can take me to the next town (20 km. away) to catch another bus. Hmm. What choice do I have? There is no signage anywhere as to indicate a schedule. There is nothing in English anywhere either. So be it. Off we go...

At about 11:45, we stop at an ATM so I can get some dong. OK, feel free to make all the sophomoric jokes you want at this point. But $1 buys 17,000 dong! Crazy. I only got $100 worth or so for the moment. We leave the main road and go on this very bumpy dirt and stone road into a residential zone, though not at all pleasant. So now I am thinking that I am about to be robbed. Really. We pull up in front of this house where about 6 men are hanging out shooting the bull. I have picked out the smallest one thinking that if need be, he can be the one I thump. I swear, this is going through my mind. The moto driver speaks next to no English. I tell him that this is NOT a bus station. He tells me to sit. Like hell. He says in 15 minutes a big bus will appear. I can't imagine a Greyhound thing rumbling down this little country road, basically. But sure enough, here comes a bus. Big? Hardly, but it IS a bus. I am told it will take 5 hours. Lovely. I pick a seat in the back. There is next to no one aboard. I start out on yet another bumpy 2-lane 'highway' andtake in all the new scenery.

Three hours later, we pull over and I am told I need to board a different bus. OK. I get on this much bigger bus and I am stared at as if I had just arrived from the surface of the moon. No one speaks English though this drunk guy smoking cigarettes tries to talk to me in very shaky English. He smelled like Milwaukee and I wasn't up for it. I made the mistake of sitting in a seat of a woman who apparently worked on the bus. She made it clear that I was not to sit there and gave me a shove as I was moving. Were it not for the fact that I had been in the country for three hours, I think I drop her right there. Two hours later after listening to the driver go no more than 42 seconds without laying on the LOUD horn, we arrived.

I hopped into a taxi and located my dive of a hotel. Too early to say, but Vietnam appears every bit as hectic as Kampot was placid. Things are cheap, however. More on that later. Off to sleep for a very early wake up tomorrow to check out some picturesque floating gardens.

Z