Our ride into Can Tho was a short one, only 35km. We didn't leave as early as usual, and took our time. As in the previous days, there were some small (and very small) roads along canals, which made this another beautiful ride! We had an ice coffee stop, and a bit later we arrived at a temple Truc Lam Phuong Nam which seemed to be of importance - and it was nice for a visit.
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| Mekong Delta scenery |
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| More Mekong Delta scenery |
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| And yes... more Mekong Delta scenery. The green plants in the water are water hyacinth, they're a bit of a plague it seems |
Once in Can Tho, around noon, we enjoyed the early arrival and a relaxed afternoon. While we were waiting for our room, which was not yet ready, we finally gave our bicycles a much needed wash - it was still covered in Cambodian mud, with some additional Mekong Delta flavor. The rest of the day was pretty much about taking it easy, strolling around and food. A late and very tasty lunch, and all kinds of (mostly sweet) things from foodstalls: fruit juice, banana pancake, yoghurt, flan. That was pretty much our dinner... We had such a nice afternoon and evening, then a great night with fantastic sleep, in a very nice guest house, that we decided to stay for another day.
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| Coffee stop in a typical cafe |
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| At these cafes, during the day, we always see lots of students hanging out, usually also playing games on the phones |
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| Truc Lam Phuong Nam temple, or at least one of the buildings on the compound |
That extra day in Can Tho was similar to the afternoon the day before. Walk around, sit down for a juice, walk some more and have a good coffee, lunch. Lunch was nice: nem nuong. You get some rice paper, salad and fresh herbs, slices of starfruit and unripe banana, a Vietnamese kind of sausage, put that all together in the rice paper, roll it, and eat with a delicious dipping sauce. Yummy! That, with 4 fried spring rolls, cost us... 3$!
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| On one of the countless bridges |
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| Fruit stop! Delicious guava, one of the best I've ever eaten, and a pomelo. |
Can Tho is a nice, modern city. We've been here 25 years ago, but can't recognize anything, it has changed so much. The streets are mostly wide, there are pedestrian walkways - but these are full of food stalls, motorbikes, etc - and some trees for a bit of shade. Traffic is dominated by motorbikes, it's a hectic whirlpool of motorbikes, crossing the road is difficult and goes like this: choose your direction, close your eyes, go at constant speed and hope to reach the other side. If all these motorbikes would get converted in cars, traffic would be absolutely terrible...
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| Arrival in Can Tho. There is supposedly a bicycle lane - not in reality though, as it's full of cars or other obstacles. |
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| A colorful painting that urgently needed a wash... |
The Vietnamese love being outside. In the evening, there are restaurants and cafes everywhere, outside. Most of the time, they're just small tables and chairs that have been brought outside for the evening. And more often than not, they're full of people. It's fascinating, and very nice to see. I don't think there is any other Asian country where people live so much outside. Can Tho - and much of Vietnam I think - have a strong cafe culture, it's literally full of places where you can have a coffee, tea, juice and many other drinks (although usually no alcohol) any time of the day. Also these places are very well frequented, you can see people go there for a few drinks in the evening with family and friends. Really really nice.
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| We saw these giant lotus at the temple, they're very impressive! |
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| They can be more than 1m across, and people can actually walk or sit on it. |
As I'm writing, we're still in Can Tho, a day longer than intended. This morning we both didn't feel very well, and we decided it was better to stay another day, take some extra rest, and continue when we feel good again...
