To The Mekong (Where We Encounter a Scary Amusement Park).

Leaving HCMC at about 8:45, we are the sole passengers in a 12-passenger Toyota van speeding toward Chau Doc on the Mekong river. It's a six-hour journey with a wild driver who speaks no English. Around noon, he pulls into a rest stop/food court, rubs his stomach and says: "Hungry. 30 minute." So we have lunch, then continue our mad dash through the countryside. Many small villages. All look much the same. Then we hit traffic at a dead stop. After 45 minutes of inching slowly foward, we realize that we're waiting for a ferry. We've reached the Mekong!

The river is over a half mile wide at this point. There a five ferries
constantly shuttling back and forth, but there's still a back-up. It takes
over an hour before we can continue on our way to Chau Doc.

Our hotel in Chau Doc is reasonably nice. The room is quite large and clean. We decide to take a walk, though what we saw of the town coming in was dirty, and it's very hot and humid. But we're tired of sitting in an bouncing air-conditioned box, so we venture forth.

To find the creepiest amusement park ever.

Utterly deserted.

Except for these figures from a child's nightmare.
We found the nearest cafe, had a couple beers, and went straight back to our hotel.

P.