We fixed the price, we got to the boat, it turned our our man on the scene(MOTS) wasn't actually the boat driver, but that was okay, the boatman and his lovely wife and daughter obviously knew what they were doing. We had the boat pretty much to ourselves with only a Japanese guy sharing the boat with us. As we were getting on the boat the MOTS said 'you pay me balance now'. Of course we almost did, cos even after 3 months we still have a little faith and trust. Then DT was like, 'no, other end' - we now speak in these weird little half sentences.
The Mekong is huge!! I'll repeat that - The Mekong is huge!! Man it's a big river. You think you are on the other side and low and behold, it is just an island. It is amazingly busy, with lots of people living on the river, so you go past other boats and there are people washing their hair, brushing their teeth, every ablution possible. Sam and Mick decided to test the water filter bottle so they scooped up some water and put in the filter and had a wee drink. No terrible side affects, it was a very expensive bottle, of course it would work. Sam told me later he had the seen the boat driver and his family drinking the water as well, but straight out of the river, then he said he saw the Mother hold the little girl over the edge to have a crap! I think he might have wished he had waited before testing the filter bottle.
We went to a floating market, but it wasn't that interesting, what was interesting though, was the way the town was built on the water and everyone's back garden was liquid. Much like Venice is I suppose, it was really peaceful after the madness of the roads. We got taken to the obligatory honey shop stop and managed to buy some products - how could we not, they were yummy. We thought that the honey would be useful for snacks with the Vietnamese Bread - baguettes, but unfortunately with the ants we kept it in the fridge at the next hotel and I think it is still there.
We started to feel a bit uneasy on the way to My Tho when the boat driver stopped at the beginning of an island and called out to some fisherman. Obviously we couldn't understand a word, except for My Tho and lots of pointing by the two fishermen, the boater and his wife. Which incidentally is pretty cool to watch when you haven't a clue what is being said, but everyone gets really enthusiastic with their conversations. So he set off in the direction of the pointing, I said to DT, 'that bugger's never been here before, he hasn't a clue where to go. We had assumed that because My Tho is down river, you can't miss it! Obviously not when the river is the size of a small ocean! Anyway, a bit further down the track, the scene is repeated. Our antennae were twirling a bit now, but for no reason as shortly after the big beautiful new My Tho suspension bridge appeared before us and all was good. Until... the boatman, pulled into the bank and said ' You can hop out now and bicycle into town - not far'. Aahh No Actually. It was kind of funny because the way he said it was like an enthusiastic tour guide unveiling details of the special offer - free for you. At this stage, remember the river is huge, the bridge is just a misty smudge on the horizon and we are in fact about 10km out of My Tho.
DT got on his 'don't mess with me voice' though and after repeated gesturing to the bridge and My Tho, My Tho, and the man reluctantly pulled out and off we chugged. He then tried two more times to dump us and finally evicted us right below smack into the middle of a building site right below the bridge. We finally paid the ferryman and wobbled off, I could say much to the amusement of the site workers, but they didn't even bat an eyelid! No OSH reps here to worry about Mum, Dad and the 3 kids weaving through their site.
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