Can Tho #1

We'd been to Can Tho on our last trip to Vietnam, when we stayed at the Victoria Can Tho. We had our favorite lunch and dinner spots right around the hotel, but we'd not been too impressed with the rest of the city. Marc was able to get us a reservation at a high-rise hotel that seemed to cater to business people and conferences, definitely not our style at all, but we were booking at the last minute and took what he could find -- happy enough since it had a nice-looking pool.

We were on the 28th floor (out of 28) and had a nice view overlooking the river and one of the main drags in the city, and the pool was on the 6th floor, kind of breezy. Even though it wasn't at all our style, we enjoyed the hotel and our large, comfortable room, and spent a good bit of time by the usually empty pool.

But the big surprise was Can Tho itself. Since we weren't staying at the Victoria, we had to wander around the area of our hotel and we discovered the market, finally. Last time we'd only found the night market, and like all night markets it was full of plastic crap, uninteresting. But the food market was just wonderful, on both sides of a curving street and then into the interior....and all pretty close to the night market! The last time we stayed, we didn't venture past the night market so we missed it completely.

One of the best parts of that market for me was the moment a very old woman grabbed my arm and looked up at me from underneath her conical straw hat with the most beautiful smile. She clutched my arm for half a minute and we smiled at each other the whole time. I don't think I'll ever forget her face. This kind of thing happened to me a few times in Can Tho, women from middle age to old, holding my gaze to smile at me, and it always felt personal in some way. It was startling and unexpected, and just marvelous.

For this unexpected stay, we wandered the riverfront, hit the market as many times as we could, and swam. We ate at Nam Bo a couple of times -- the set menu for dinner one night, and breakfast the next morning. During our dinner, a huge tour group of Americans arrived, middle-age to older, and they filled three very large tables and took over the mood of the place entirely. They were loud and raucous, and even throwing things up into the ceiling fan and cheering, like frat boys. It was so gross, they were so gross, and we left as soon as we could. Breakfast the next morning was much better; the place was quiet, the mood was very French colonial, and the food was great. There was a French couple seated at the table next to ours, and he could've been a cartoon of the stereotypical French man: Breton blue and white striped shirt and quirky glasses, and a neat, tidy style.

As we walked through the waterfront park, moving away from the market, we noticed the buildings on the riverfront changing, and at the end it was lined with large hotels, kind of like what we saw between Danang and Hoi An. One advertised poker and baccarat. They are soul-less places, uninteresting, and taking over. The huge statue of Uncle Ho is still there, and I imagine he'll still be there as an "authentic Vietnamese" tourist attraction. I wondered if all this meant this would be our last trip to Vietnam, and I felt such deep sadness about that possibility. But we were off deeper into the Mekong Delta, and I hoped that we wouldn't find the same kind of giant tour groups in Sa Dec.