An inauthentic tour which left everyone vaguely unsatisfied

I signed up for one of the daily tours that schlep tourists to pretty spots around Saigon, this one to the Mekong Delta, 70 km south of Ho Chi Minh City. I decided I'd rather make the two-hour drive south by bus rather than on the back of Tu's moped (see post below for an explanation of Tu), although he had offered. Plus, he asked for twice as much, which was still paltry, only $15. But bargains are still important, (I guess?), even in a place where everything is affordable. A lot of vendors here try to charge Westerners much more than the Vietnamese, of course. 16,800 Vietnamese Dong equals $1. A bowl of pho costs between 14,000 and 20,000 dong. I bought a hat for 80,000 dong and an older woman at the market got cross with me and said I should have bought it for 40,000. Photo of hat coming soon. (Photo above pulled from web.)

The tour had a bunch of tourists pile onto a bus. The back filled up with six male Germans who spoke loudly, drank a lot of beer and banana wine, and peed everywhere. At one point along the tour they tried to buy a python from a small boy to slice it up and fry it. Our guide put a quick stop to that transaction although the boy had at first agreed. I think the NYTimes should write its next expose on drunken Germans abroad. (Some Britons Too Unruly for Resorts in Europe, "British Worry That Drinking Has Gotten Out of Hand" ... )

The bus headed to My Tho, a river town, where we disembarked and climbed onto a boat to cross the wide river. None of these boats is the actual one we rode on.