We are combining these days due to the long travel to and from Can Tho. Can Tho is considered the capital of the Mekong Delta and is approximately four hours south of Saigon on Route 1A. On the drive down, the only excitement came at the end when we disembarked from our bus to take the ferry across the Hau Giang River. These are big serious ferries that take both people and all manner of vehicles across to Can Tho. In the near distance, you can see a bridge being built and one year from now the ferries will stop running. It was nice to be out of the bus, even for the brief ferry ride.

That evening, the hotel had a gala planned in honor of Christmas Eve. Is seems that this Buddhist country has completely embraced the trappings of Christmas - lights, Santa, presents - simply as a way to have a party. Everywhere we went, decorations abounded. THey dropped off noticeably outside Saigon, but were back in full arrangement in Can Tho. The gala consisted of a lion dance, traditional song and music and a more modern band all as a backdrop to an enormous buffet. Right away it started to rain and an army of hotel staff swarmed the pool deck and re-arranged everything on the terrace without so much as dropping a fork. The food was very nice and the desserts were excellent. We made up for the lack of desserts in one single night.

The morning of the 25th was a very early start so that we could get out to the floating market by boat. We boarded the boat at the hotel and were shortly in the midst of a bustling wholesale market. The larger boats would cluster together by food on offer and smaller boats with individuals would purchase quantities to take to the retail markets. The boats advertised their wares by hanging everything they were selling from long poles that raised from the bow. Mostly we saw fruits, vegetables and aromatics - no meat, poultry or fish (with the exception of a few roosters on boats). It was invigorating to be in the middle of all this commerce.

On the way back to the bus, we stopped in a quaint riverside village to visit a local school. The kids were grouped in sixes around tables learning history. We asked a few of them what they wanted to be when they grew up and then the kids sang "We wish you a merry christmas" in english and a song about Ho Chi Minh in Vietnamese. It was a light moment in the day.

Back on the bus, we heard the story of how the mosquito came to be. There once was a beautiful woman who was wooed by some powerful and rich men. But she fell ill and lost her looks and the attentions of her suitors. A poor farmer rescued her and married her, but she continued to get sicker. They visited many doctors and one finally said the cure would be to take her husband's blood and use it instead of her own. The transfusion completed, she regained both her health and her looks. She rejected the farmer in favor of a rich man and the farmer agreed to let her go on one condition - she return his blood to him. She did but the illness returned and she died. Her body was transformed into a mosquito, doomed forever to take blood from others to live.