Our first 2 cycling days in Vietnam have been fantastic! Yeah, I know, that's what we usually say the first days in a new country... But honestly, it's been really nice. The roads are quite fine, and mostly with little traffic. Although, to be complete, there are some busy stretches, and there are much more motorbikes which makes it a bit more hectic at times. We've found a lot of small roads however, sometimes only for motorbikes and bicycles, through small villages and rice fields, incredibly nice. The weather is also helping, it's a been a bit cooler (less hot, that is). It's ideal for cycling, also because it's very flat - so no hills to conquer for once! People are definitely friendly, a bit different from Cambodia; sometimes very shy, sometimes enthusiastic, and it varies from area to area. We get a lot of hello's again, from children - sometimes a whole school at once! - but also from adults. Two days into Vietnam, we're really happy!
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| Ha Tien in the morning, very different town view compared to Cambodia! |
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| At breakfast: noodle soup and Vietnamese coffee |
Yesterday we left Ha Tien early morning, had a few km on a slightly busy road - where cyclists don't count in traffic... - and then entered a smaller road, along a canal, for most of the day. Nice, a bit monotonous after a while maybe, but surely pleasant. It's also great, there are cafe's and restaurants all the time, and it's easy to find a nice Vietnamese coffee, juice (sugarcane, orange), and food and so we had some enjoyable stops. We rode around 80km, to finish in Tri Ton, a small town, yet good for a short walk through town, with another cold sweet stop (hard to describe, it's called che, a bit like the Malaysian ABC) and dinner.
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| We found a lot of "Ca Phe Vong" and after a little while found out: these are places where you can rest in a hammock (vong) while enjoying a nice drink! |
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| Fruit stop, pineapple here. Bottom right on the picture you can also see, in some places the road is repaired with rocky gravel |
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| Some river/canal views |
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| From our lunch terrace |
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| This boat is transporting ducks - or is it a duck farm??? |
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| Well, this is definitely a duck farm |
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| Another typical Mekong Delta view; it's a maze of canals here, with roads usually built along the canals |
From Tri Ton we left towards Can Tho, the biggest city in the Mekong Delta. Can Tho would be more than 120km, and while we didn't rule it out, it was not our intention to go all the way. We had seen there were several guest houses after 70-90km, so we knew we had options. We made it a comfortable day, and still with the easy flat cycling and a bit of tailwind, we finished with 92km on the counter. It was a very beautiful day, on small quiet roads, with great scenery, good stops, friendly people - all you can wish for as a tour cyclist!
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| Eternal rice fields... And some mountains in the back, which we did not need to climb |
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| More beautiful rice field scenery |
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| We saw a lot of interesting bridges, showing a small collection here... |
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| Some very decent, some less appealing to cross... |
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| This was on our way and yes, in good condition |
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| Interesting stuff! |
Our place for the night is called Thoi Lai, in a guest house Nha Nghi Thai Binh where we pay 7 USD for the night - a clean, good room with air conditioning and bathroom. When we arrived in this town we were still doubting to continue to Can Tho or not - just another 30km - but decided to call it a day. And luckily we did, because a few minutes after checking in, the clouds opened and there was a serious downpour! We would have been soaking wet! There's not much to do in this place, we walked around briefly, it was busy on the road, difficult to walk, even the market was mostly closed. So we had a cold drink and then our dinner, early at 6pm. Tomorrow will be a short ride, to Can Tho, very relaxed!
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| Fantastic cycling! |
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| So nice! |
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| Almost no other traffic, very little motorbikes, and friendly (if shy!) people all along this road |
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| For a while, there were many churches, Christmas decorations and this is the entrance of a... graveyard! Surprising! |
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| One of the bigger canals, with a busy road and according housing on one side, and a rural area without much housing on the other |
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| Very wet view from our room, shortly after checking in |
Oh yes, today we met another cyclist, Jenny, American, who is doing a bicycle tour in Vietnam to
raise funds for a Room To Read library; feeling generous?
