Intro:

The first thing on arrival in Ho Chi Minh city, coming out of the airport arrival hall, is the sea of humanity. Next equally crowded, is the sheer number of bicycles on the road. The next thing that hit our ears was the incessant ringing of bicycles bells and car horns. We found out very soon that the humble and unassuming bicycle horn would become our saviour and defender on our trip.

It was the first inaugural tandem trip for us. The tandem (not our beautiful sculptured legs), was also a main source of attention and conversation for the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese are lovers of anything that is two-wheeled and our tandem became the icebreaker in many of our encounters in our 10-day Mekong Delta trip of Southern Vietnam.

The Mekong Delta is very flat (phew!) and the land is mainly agricultural. There is an extensive network of canals and channels. Therefore a lot of crossings on boats and ferries.  We were very fortunate that we went during the dry season of March/April.

HO CHI MINH CITY

The city is a chaotic mess of bicycles and motorbikes. There seem to be a understanding amongst these people - the bigger and louder you are, the more right of way you have. Crossing the road takes strong determination, a brave heart and strong brisk legs. The roads in HCM city are wide and they have island promenades everywhere. The most important and indispensable thing on the bike (as in most places in Vietnam), is the bicycle horn. We were lucky to have brought with us a battery-operated horn that sounded like a parrot being de-feathered!! It definitely cleared the way for us. Road maps of HCM can be bought very cheaply and they are quite clear but may not be accurate. Road signs are also prominently displayed.

HCM - MYTHO - CAI BE - CANTHO

We had a pleasant start to our Mekong Delta trip - a 2-hour courtesy bus trip to Mytho. From there it was a 70 km ride to Cantho.

Cantho is a very  busy and noisy town with people roaring up and down the streets in their cyclos. We had to take a ferry to Cantho and 'by chance' met Hung ( a part-time tourist guide). He spoke English rather well and recommended us our accommodations and even side trips. Seeing that he wasn't very pushy about his 'sales', we decided to check out his recommendations - Hotel 31 (US$7 with aircon). A clean and central place.

We went on a private river cruise US$3 X 7 hours. Had to wake up at 6am and visited 2 floating markets selling fruits and veggies (Cai Rang and Phong Dien) and a fruit farm. The fruit farm was a disappointment to us - it was like visiting someone's garden. All we saw were a couple of guava trees, pineapples, pomelos, rambutans and papaya trees.

CANTHO - LONG XUYEN - CHAU DOC

Took the bus and stacked the tandem on top of it to take us to Long Xuyen. The tandem costs more than both our bus tickets! One thing we noticed is that the bus drivers are very trigger-happy with their horns, even when the road is deserted. Stayed at Hotel My Loc (US$7 with aircon). Chau Doc is right on the Cambodian border and people there are generally friendly.

Went on a 3-4 hour boat trip ( a private arrangement by Hung - see above). For US$5 per person, a guide ( Mr.Chi was his name) would pick us up at the hotel, go on his private boat and see life along the canals. We felt like voyeurs - watching people living in their houseboats going about their daily routine - cooking, washing, bathing and even defaecating! Went to see a commercial fish farm. It? Basically a boathouse with cages below to house fishes for sale. Highlight of the evening was having dinner in (provided for in the 'tour') with Mr.Chi and his family in their houseboat. From the outside of their little boat one cannot imagine what comforts they actually have - TV, phone, VCR, Karaoke, etc. Food was good - steamboat and of course the Vietnamese spring roll.

The main attraction in Chau Doc is Sam Mountain - about 8 km from town. We had a difficult time finding the route up the mountain as every body said that threes no way up except by foot. After much perseverance cycling to and fro, and going by our own hunches, we managed to cycle up the mountain from its rear. On the top there is nothing up there except for an army outpost. But it had a magnificent view of Cambodia. The view made up for the bike climb - the tandem isn't exactly agile on slopes. There is a central market in Chan Doc and in the night there is great food and of course their famous hot-filtered coffee (caphe nong).

CHAU DOC - HA TIEN

The route (approx 100 km) to Ha Tien isn't very much of a road. It? a wide gravel trail road with the canal running on one side and the rice padi fields on the other. The canal is actually the boarder for Vietnam and Cambodia.Both of us decided to chance this route even though the guidebooks said the road isn't completed.  The terrain is very flat and occasionally we managed to up our speed to race with a boat traveling along side. For about half of our ride, we had to cycle through kms and kms of rice grains, which were spread out on the road for drying in the sunshine. It was picturesque but quite dangerous as our wheels were constantly skidding on the rice grains. Cars, buses and bullock carts would also have their turns with the grains.

Ha Tien is also situated on the Cambodian border.  The guidebook said that it had "lovely beaches” and fishing villages. Went to the beach and it was so-so. Had seafood there, which was so-so too. On the way cycling back, it rained and poured and we had no raincoats and inadequate bike lights and it was dark. Stayed at Hotel Hai Yen

(US$11) - also so-so.

HA TIEN -HON CHONG

It was a 33 km ride to Hon Chong. It wasn't in our plans but we wanted to check out the place, as we didn't want to stay another night in Ha Tien. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Stayed in Binh An Hotel (US$7) in a huge room with 2 queen-sized beds. A couple of km away is Chau Hang town. There was our redemption! We had a great seafood feast there - 4 mud crabs(the local ones),2 Cray fish, 4 big clams (the size of our palms), fresh coffee and all the fresh coconuts we want - total cost? US$3.50 per person!!

It was worthwhile taking our own sweet time feasting on the seafood and watching trawlers coming back from the fishing trip.And the magnificent sunset view was simply breathtaking.Best be there for dinner at 5.00pm.Sunset at 6.00pm March/April.

HON CHONG -RACH GIA

We started off to Rach Gia (approx 92 km) at 5.00am and were hoping to reach there before noon as the Vietnamese sun can be scorching hot. But lady luck wasn't with us that day. After cycling for two and half hours, we found ourselves cycling in a circle and was back where we started. ".....BUT THE MAP SAID THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A ROAD!!" screamed my mate.  We wanted to take an gravel off-road instead of the main road. We carried on taking the actual planned route. Went through several canal crossings and finally reached Rach Gia after crossing the 'floating bridge' - a series of metal planks held in place by floating pontoons.

Rach Gia is a pleasant and laid-back town. It is worth watching the boats coming in from their fishing expeditions in the early mornings and evenings. A few kms out or town is a long route that runs through a number of parks. Back at the hotel we had bouts of tummy upsets.

RACH GIA - HCM

The trip to HCM was done in a bus. Took a 10-6am bus to HCM. The bus left at 10.30pm and spent one hour picking up passengers from around the town and another extra hour fixing the brakes along the way. Reached HCM at 4.30am .Had a tough time trying to figure out where we were in HCM.  So it was back to our trusty digital compass to lead us to the direction of the town center. One thing struck us whilst cycling - the 4.30am traffic seemed no different from the day traffic. It was just as crowded, noisy and dusty. The last night was spent in Apricot Hotel (US$15) - a very decent business hotel popular with regional visitors eg. Malaysia, Taiwan, China. Pastry and coffee at Givraly was a welcome change to days and days of noodles.

A piece of advice to would be visitors/cyclists there (a) Never stop to check your bike when there is a crowd nearby. Our tandem, panniers, horn, water bottles were 'manhandled' and what more, our cyclometer was resetted. What a bummer. (b)Get the best and loudest bicycle horn you can lay your hands on. (c) lotsa sunblock

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws