Cycling The Road Less Travelled

After our stay in Ho Chi Minh City, we spent a few days in the Mekong Delta area. We enjoyed the market in My Tho and liked Chau Doc, the cycling was a bit disappointing though. The area was more developed then we expected, so while we occasionally got a peak of emerald green rice paddies, we spent most of our riding time trying to avoid the fumes and heavy traffic. Luckily, Mel and Jesse’s wonderful company, the festivities and colors of Tet and the countless hours we spent sucking back mango shakes more then made up for it.

Vietnam is a fascinating place. There a tons of things to see and do, lots of history, beautiful landscapes and there is always something interesting going on to catch your eye. We’ve really enjoyed our stay but in all honesty we wouldn’t rank it highly as a cycling destination, at least not if you intend to cycle the whole way. While it can be very exciting, the busy streets and the constant honking eventually take their toll; you end up spending too much of your energy avoiding the vehicles whizzing by instead of enjoying the ride.

With that we say “Good Night Vietnam” and “Good Morning” to the 26th country on our tour: Cambodia. In 2006, we spent a short 4 days in Angkor Wat and the Ton Le Sap Lake area. We loved Angkor and were so touched by the friendliness and the spirit of the people that we decided we would come back one day, hopefully on bikes. Here is our chance.