Day 4: Sunday, Phu Quoc to My Tho, August 3rd, 2009

I slept for another 3 hours before leaving the hotel at 6:30 AM. Upon arriving the Suoi Tranh fall, I climbed up the mountain, which took about 25 minutes. I left my bag behind a tree so it was a little easier. There were no tourists at 7 AM except me. I went in the fall, on top the 5 meter fall, thanks to the very small current.

I came down the fall at around 10 AM and found that I no longer had my keys in Cambodia. The moto driver that took me here was reluctant to use his cell to call the hotel, telling me something about the financial standings of moto drivers. So I gave him 1,000 VNDs to call the hotel, only to find the hotel does not have it. This left the fall to be the only possibility.
The driver gestured to me to walk back up to where I swam. I had some spare time so I followed him. The water by the fall, the only place I swam, is about 2 meters deep. I did not think there was any chance. He told me to go for the bottom. I did this for about 10 minutes and ha, I did find it. Though I realized later I forgot my lock to my bag, it was a small loss compared to the trouble and the replacement penalty ($30) for the room keys.
Here is the man that told me however small the possiblity, as long as it is distinct, one should try.
The driver then took me to the port before 11 AM and introduced me to a girl that spoke Chinese. She studied Chinese and tourism at 桂林. Her name is 阮氏青草 and her family owns a small shop. I wanted seafood at Phu Quoc for lunch. The owner of the restaurant next to her family's shop was asked to buy back 0.5 kg of lobster shrimp and crab. This took almost one hour! Finally, the yummy shrimp lobster was just superb.
She insisted on not eating any so I had most of it! I will definitely be back at Vietnam for more seafood. She was helped cutting the lobster shrimp's sides. She was of course very fond of me.
I left the beautiful Phu Quoc Island at 1:30 PM. I do not understand why these hydrofoil boats cost so damn expensive (220,000 VNDs) compared to my bus tickets here, which is usually ranges from 25,000 to 75,000 VNDs. Anyway, I got back to Rach Gia at around 4 and went on another 3 hour bus ride back to My Tho (75,000 VNDs).

As you can see, we are very cramped, sitting in small stools that filled up the aisle. I counted 20 bodies in this van.
We arrived our destination at around 12 AM. I walked out and gave the name of the hotel to some of the moto drivers, who recognized as a place 20 km away and asked for 60,000 VNDs. I wondered a little more to find a couple that spoke a little Chinese, who told me that I was already in Saigon, about 2 hours past My Tho.

I am full of anguish because I told the "bus" employee numerous times that I was going to My Tho. Luckily, I saved the receipt, which had a phone number for the bus company. After shouting on top of my lungs to a bunch of Vietnamese bus company employees, someone helped me track down that bus employee, who is on his cell in the above picture.

I had no idea what he said to me. He probably made some fun. I stayed in the bus for about one hour before we were back on our way to Rach Gia. They filled this bus with a bunch of what I guess are late night workers. I fell asleep for about an hour and this bus arrived at My Tho at 2:30 AM.

Having arrived at hotel by the shore, I paid the driver abou 20,000 VNDs and 300 Riels. I was running short on VNDs. I also was not going to stay at this 350,000 VNDs for 2.5 hours of sleep before my tour at 7 AM. I found myself talking to a Vietnamese native to this area, who now lives in Fresno and cannot sleep. He told me a lot about these islands in My Tho and offered me a Heineken before going to sleep.

So, I slept on a chair.