Mekong River trip

After arriving in Can Tao and checking into the Kim Tho hotel, set set out for lunch in an open air restaurant along the river in the old market place which has been converted to a restaurant and nice shops/stalls. En route we were approached by Ha , a charismatic local who was offering trips on the river in her boat. $10 each for 3.5 hours. We said we would be back after lunch. It turned out that Ha was the marketer for the trip, and her sister took us up the river. I took at least 100 photos. The river has all kind of boats and homes and businesses both big and small line the shores. We travelled upstream for about an hour to reach the floating market. Apparently it is liveliest early in the morning but there was plenty of activity. In many homes you can see the bathroom - just a little corner perhaps surrounded by a tarp with a hole directly opening into the river. All of the homes are on stilts. On he way back we went into the small canals which seem to meander for ever. We were really ready to get out of the samoan about 1/2 way (or less) through the trip. On several occasions the prop got stuck on a plastic bag (regular grocery size) and our captain had to pull up the tiller/prop (which is about 10 feet long) and cut the bad off. We also got stuck in the mangroves. We did not see any other boats with engines in the canals. Every house has a wooden boat that was between a dugout canoe and a gondola boat.