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MyTho is a city on the Mekong River about 1½ hours from Ho Chi Minh by minibus - or 7 hours on a fruit barge like this one. For $6 each, Joanna and I booked passage.

We left HCMC at about 5pm and reached My Tho at midnight. We didn't actually dock there, but were met mid-river by a water taxi which took us to shore, escorted by a small police boat.

The barge then continued upriver to the city of Chau Doc, near the Cambodian border, where it would load up with coconuts, pineapples, watermelons, mangos, longans, citrus and other tropical fruits to bring back to HCMC.