Day 1 – Ho chi Minh to Tra Menh

Day 1 of cycling, a little 40 km jaunt takung us out of saigon to Tra Menh. Thankfully as e ere not yet used to how traffic worked on the roads of Vietnam (and righlty so as it really is anything goes based on a hierarchy of vechicle sizes. Lorries and buses give wa y to cars, cars to mopeds and motorbikes, M&Ms to bikes, and bikes pedestrians. Although at first it seems is it jsut everyman for hmself!

So, off we set, through the traffic, getting our firdt experience of Vietnamese traffic. Total buzz. Was scarey but so exciting to finally be cycling in Nam! We hit the main roads to start with before turning off into the villages of the Mekong Delta.

Cycling through this area was kinda like cycling through a theme park to start with, albeit we were the novelty. (crazy white folks!) The villages are designed for people on foot, on bikes and mopeds. The paths are about a metre and a half wide, jsut wide enough for overtaking, or passing. And litterlly just ide enough, most of the time you are looking at a drop into the Mekong or a paddy field if you come off, great when you can see a motorbike hurtling towards you.

The majority of day one was spent weaving along these pathsm before hitting the main road again and getting to the ferry to make the first of out many crossings on the Mekong. All in all the day as pretty uneventful, a hairy patch when hile crossing one of the many narro bridges my foot got caught in my cleet...normally not an issue, keep on trucking right?? Eh no, this bridge was – like the paths – v narrow, say a metre and a half ide, ith no edges. You come of this bridge you are drinkng the toxic cocktail of the Mekong. Yummers. Thankfully I recovered, but good lord that as a panic I could have done ithout. I chose not to ear my cycling shoes the next day.

We arrived at Tra Menh at about half 3, a little dissappointing as e onlyh covered 40km that day – I as ready to keep going. And ith it being Lunar Ne Year e ere a little disappointed to find that town was pretty much shut as this is v much afamily affair. So, e convinced the hotel to allo us a crate of beer so e coulf chill out before heading to a local restaurent. It as brilllaint, proper vietnamese food. Local place, nothing fancy, nothing esternised. Loved it all. (NB: please see blog comment re. Chicken foot)
E had earlier in the evening scored an invite to a disco – Ne Year after all. So, hen in Rome/the back rads of the Mekong Delta.....

A fe ords:
Disco
Dance Off
Running Man

OH YES I DID!! HA!
E brought day 1 to a close ith a rendition of Auld Lang Syne in the lift back to our rooms.

E never made it to midnight. A long day ahead of us after all.