A Small Disappointment

Truth be told, today was disappointing. There was too much bus and not enough boat.

The day did start well with boats cruising through a floating fishing village. These houses are lashed together and serve as home and factory. They raise catfish, which take six months from fingerling to market weight. (About 1 kilogram.) Then, large boats will arrive and the live fish are transported away in a hull that is vented to the outside river water.

Next, we were to see the local minority village. It feels like the tour guide shorted us. We only saw the village's gift shop and never made it into the village. We were back in the boats headed to the dock from where we came.

It turns out 3 people decided to go to Cambodia, and now our group is down to just 3 on the original tour. We had a quick drive up to the Cambodian boarder to see a few temples. This town is crawling with beggars. The tour guide hid and did no guiding, and left us on our own. 45 minutes later, we were back on the bus for an hour and a half drive to a crocodile farm.

If you are squeamish, skip the next paragraph.

The croc farm was having "feeding day". In each of the pens a flock of ducklings was released. None would last the day. When a croc decided to eat, he'd snatch a duckling and drag it under to kill it. Then he'd come up to throw his head back in order to swallow. It is very natural for crocs to eat ducklings in the wild, but I can think of a few people back home, who would have been very upset at the sight.

The rest of the day was driving to Can Tho, and our next hotel. We arrived at 2 PM. There hadn't been a lunch break, and I'm under the impression the guide cut corners to end the day early.