Shall we take a tour?

Our last day here in Viet Nam was a roller coaster for me...and I would like to blame my hormones, but I don't think they can take all the blame. With our time in Viet Nam dwindling, we opted to take a tour of the Mekong delta enroute to Cambodia. A two day excursion, we were enshrouded by a cloud of confusion from the moment we booked the tour. After being shuffled through several tour offices, we're not sure if we even ended up on the tour we signed up for. Just before hopping on an already packed bus, an agent asked us if it was alright if we took a bus to our final destination instead of a boat. Bags packed and ready to go, we had little choice but to agree. A 'refund' would mean an unnecessary extra day in Saigon. We sqeezed in like sardines to the last two seats in the back of the bus and joined the seathing sea of traffic as we worked our way out of Saigon. Once we reached the river, we spent a lovely couple of hours cruising around a floating market. Bundles of potatoes, lichees, watermelons, etc were heaved from one boat to the next. It was a giant produce distribution center rocking back and forth on the busy river. We slowly worked our way through narrow channels lined with mangroves and tropical fruit trees and lunched on an island surrounded by the lush vegetation. After lunch our tour guide said he would be dropping us off at the bus. We were under the assumption that the whole group was going by bus instead of boat to our destination near the border. Instead, there wasn't room on the boat for Tim and I, so we were sent along with this woman who came to retrieve us. I explicitly asked about our bags and where the bus would drop us off. We were told our bags would be brought along with the rest of the group and the bus would drop us right at the hotel. That answer satisfied me....for a while. The woman had us jump on the back of two motorbikes to be taken to the outskirts of town to catch the bus. We zipped along through traffic, although Tim's driver shot off and we lost track of them immediately. As the foreboding storm clouds built overhead, I was sensing that we had become part of a far from foolproof plan. Our motorbikes stopped on the side of the highway, and we waited as several full buses sped past without slowing. We were whisked up by one just before huge raindrops drenched everything. We joined a bus full of women with plenty of rowdy kids in tow. It was actually a beautiful drive along the riverside, past houses on stilts and people commuting in small boats and ferries. As we arrived to our destination (several hours later), the bus driver stopped and everyone seemed to know the word 'GO!'. We hopped out of the bus nowhere near the supposed 'floating hotel' we were told we would be dropped off at. We set off walking, and after a kilometer or so stumbled upon the hotel...having beaten our group. They arrived a short while later and everyone climbed out and the mountain of backpacks was unloaded...all except for ours. This was my breaking point as I had absolutely had it with all the shuffling and I was suddenly certain our bags had been misplaced along the way once no longer under our supervision. Before I had a chance to verbally assault our guide, calm-cool-and-collected Tim inquires about our belongings. Apparently our group was split between two hotels and our bags were awaiting us at the other hotel. It had been a long, unpleasant afternoon to say the least, in which very little had been communicated to us, and the information we did get had been quite misleading. I was still strung quite tight when we checked into our room and pondered dinner. The last thing I wanted was a crappy meal from the hotel restaurant, so we ventured out onto the lazy lane with a few small shops and restaurants run out of people's homes. As we walked along we were greeted by excited and curious 'hello's!!', and the couple running the tiny restaurant we ducked into seemed quite giddy by our presence and quickly began chopping and cooking as soon as we sat down. The man was beaming at us from the corner and even waved at us a time or two while we ate. Each spoonful of rice seemed to wash away my frustrations with the day, and by the end of the meal my mood had lifted entirely. We wandered the neighborhood before calling it a night and were met with more boisterous greetings and Tim received a jovial handshake. As we were returning to the hotel, we passed two young girls playing badminton. One girl insisted her friend give her racket to me so that she could test my skills. I proved to be a terrible opponent, but enjoyed one of the most memorable evenings in Viet Nam. Just when I thought we were going to leave Viet Nam with a sour taste in our mouths after a rocky day...we had some of the most beautiful interactions with people when we least expected it.
And just like describing a dream that seems so outlandish once you share it with someone else, my frustrations seem so trivial and silly upon sharing them, but they were so very real in the moment. The odd thing is that we are perfectly used to being dropped off having no idea where we are, but most of the time we haven't paid for a tour....so I have no expectations to deal with.