Blogging Pubbitch

Somewhere on the trip from the bus station in Chau Doc to the Mekong cafe where we stopped for some food, Holly's purse went missing. There wasn't much in it excpet for her cards, but we still needed a report from the police in order to claim back on the insurance. Terry, the owner of the Mekong cafe, has a Vietnamese friend called "Mr Hue" who teaches English at the local school (Holly and I went to one of his English classes before leaving for Phu Quoc Island and spent a happy half hour chatting with 30 or so kids) The man is made of gold.

Not only did he take Holly to both of the police stations in town where he was shouted at, but he also prepared a report in Vietnamese for them to sign in order to make things really easy for them and us, before taking Holly back to the police station where they refused to sign it and instead heaped a little more abuse on his head. He also took Holly back to the bus station to try and find the cyclo driver who'd taken us to the cafe. All without a single word of complaint.

The next day, after we'd "persuaded" the police to sign the piece of paper on our third visit that morning to the police station (Holly, it turns out, has a decidedly evil ability to turn on the water-works on demand) we went out looking for a presant for him, as a mark of our appreciation. He's about to become a father, so we hunted round for something suitable for a young baby. On the way, due to a slight misunderstanding, Holly and I discovered how easy it would be to purchase a small child of our own. Yikes!

If you're ever in Chau Doc, go to the Mekong Cafe and say hello to Terry and Mr Hue. They both managed to make our last few days in Vietnam far more pleasant than we had any right to think it could be.