Vietnam Part 7: Mekong Delta Biking

Sommer looked up a fun thing for us to do: bike along the Mekong Delta.  I'm not the biggest biker, but I had started my Summer doing some biking on Megan's bike back in Austin, so I was up for it.  We got picked up by two dudes in a white van.  We stopped off the edge of the road after driving for a couple hours out to the Mekong Delta.  We had packed our backpacks with essentials... then we were told not to worry about it.  We should just leave our backpacks with them.  So we did.  We left everything with this strange man.  In a white van.  And when I say everything, I mean all our money and our passports.  I'm writing this blog as a retrospective, and obviously I've not been sold into sex trafficking, so things worked out okay.  But... yeah... if I had to name the stupidest thing I did on this trip, it was definitely this.  I'm just thankful they ended up being just as trustworthy as we thought.  One point for humanity and good people!

Excited!

Excited...?

Our bike guide Luck Nguyen.  He was a great guide, like I said, super trustworthy.  Knowledgeable.  Avid biker.  He knew we were novices, so he took it easy on us.

We had to hop on a few ferries to get to good bikeworthy islands.

We stopped and got lunch.  Naturally it was banh xeo.  The bike tour was all-inclusive.  So food was included.  And that yummy "O" green tea you see there.  It's a good thing though... because like I said earlier... we had no money on us.

Luck got us a whole bag of rambutan!

Hopped onto another little boat/ferry thing.  Saw some other white people and got excited. During our bike ride, some Australians ran into us and yelled, "HEY WHITE PEOPLE!"  Now, I know Sommer is white... but... they said PEOPLE so...

We still look pretty happy about our decision for a bike ride.

Panoramic of the Mekong Delta.  Which is HUGE.

Floating river city

Watching a woman making banh trang

Watching coconut candy being made/mixed.

We stopped for some tea and candies

Toward the end of the ride, there was a TORRENTIAL FLOW OF RAIN

So we stopped.  And took this awesomely wet picture.  I'm glistening.  GLISTENING!

Surprisingly enough, that was all the damage that was done to this outfit.

Went to a restaurant just up the street from our hotel.  If you look out the window, I could've been in any major city anywhere in the world.

Italian pizza in Saigon, Vietnam.