Some thoughts

I think the agent already took out quite a bit of commision in between, thus drivers like Mr Dong, had to try other ways to increase his income. By trying to persuade us to change venue, he can earn extra because that's outside the itinerary we had paid for. We vaguely mentioned that we are taking the 6am bus to Vinh Long the next day. True enough, he was actually waiting for us outside our hotel the next day morning at 5.15am! By the way, there's a crowd of motorbike drivers trying to vie for business too.
vietnam travel
For boat trips to cham village, floating village and even day trips to Sam Mountain etc, we can actually just try to negotiate on the streets. There's many motorbike drivers around. The thing is, they might not speak english. I think we can easily get usd $10 for a day trip to Sam Mountain, Tuc Dup hill.

I have not explored Chau Doc in depth. Only on the last night then I realised where is Hoa Sen Bookstore and Mekong Tours (mentioned in ReidOn Travel.com). alamak. Also, only on the last night, I realised that there's a missing street that I have not stepped foot in! There's also a slightly different village/ countryside that we passed by on the way to Sam Mountain too. If I have the chance to come back to Chau Doc again, I'll explore the countryside more this time, especially the part closer to cambodia border! :)

Hoa Sen Bookstore
Tel 076-867-817; 14 Nguyen Huu Canh St; open 6am to 8pm daily

Mekong Tours
Tel 076-868-222; www.mekongvietnam.com; 14 Nguyen Huu Canh St; open 7am to 8.30pm daily

OH! Must mention about my fav cafe here. Cafe Sam Bo Luong. M and I went twice to sit there to watch traffic and drink coffee and chit chat. Frankly, Chau Doc has the best food and coffee from my entire 8 days trip in Vietnam. As I got closer to HCMC, I missed Chau Doc's food + coffee even more!