Saigon Cantho Can Tho

... an ape! Our last stop in Can Tho was at a rice and noodle factory. Here we were guided through the whole process to make this Vietnamese dietry staple. The most interesting thing was the fact that they still use traditional methods such as using big slabs of bamboo to press the paper and then using the sun to dry them. After ditching the rest of our group (apart from the French dude, Ouilid) who were returning to HCMC, we met our new guide and group over lunch. From Can Tho ...

... br>Day 2 was my favourite riding day except that my bottom remembered way too quickly that it was sore again!! Today riding was across islands and on and off ferries. ( about 6 in total)



As we cycled along lush, overgrown shady paths we often had to duck so we wouldn’t hit branches of fruit ...

... office is down the road. We set off down the road looking for this bus station and find it eventually (spelt Mahlin) in a nice, plush aircon office (as opposed to the on the street one before) and they manage to organize a bus for us at 6. After a lift to the main bus station we get on a clean, air con minibus, for 55000VND - when the woman wanted to charge us 120,000VND for a rubbish local bus! Typical.

When we arrive in Can Tho 3 hours later ...

... conversations before repeating his talk. We arrived at the entryway to the Mekong region and hopped on a tourist boat that took us to see Coconut candy making, some unique alcohol distilling. RiceWhiskey, Banana Whiskey, etc. The rice whiskey with the Snake fermenting in it ****, by the way. We then got in dugout boats and cruised around the back water. Very pretty. Almost like a ride in Disney. A few sun drenched hours later ...

... is now nearly at boiling point......"I said what if you can't ride a bike?" I sensed some of the people in our group either couldn't or did not want to ride a bike at that time. And sure enough some people were coming forward saying they would rather walk and how far was it? Hi Hi just seemed to lose it now. He just kept saying 'velly far, velly far, you don't know way......this way, that way' An older couple in our group had huge backpacks with them as their trip was taking them ...

... food was great! The last stop of the evening was a travel agent friend of the moto drivers who set us up with a two day tour of the Mekong Delta that left from from Chau Doc and eventually landed us in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon for the locals). The next morning at 7am we left our guesthouse on a bus that took us back to the same mountain-top of the night before, however for a bit of a sunrise experience! We then received ...

... in a rich soy sauce and although a boney fish I though this tasted fantastic! We got fried spring rolls, soup and pineapple pieces with a salt and chilly pepper dip that actually made a great combination! The next morning we had a nice ride around the island. There were concrete paths along most of the smaller waterways with thin bridges with no sides didn't inspire confidence when you were wobbling across on your bike! There was this fantastic big arched bridge close ...