22/01/2019 – Ben Tre to Tra On (70km riding)

With another 7am start, today was a bigger riding day, where we would clock in around 70km or so.

Most of the day was riding through local villages and towns as we explored the Mekong Delta. There were lost of small paved roads, but we also found ourselves amongst the delta, on what seemed like footpaths, but that at different times would be a buzz with motorcycles or school children buzzing back and forth from home to school.

So in terms of “what did we do and see” it wasn’t that kind of day. It was a day to ride along, soaking in the new environment and culture. Highlights included popping in to see coconuts being harvested and prepared, catching a tiny ferry across a stretch of water to then explore a local market, fields of gorgeous flowers, an amazingly delicious lunch at a homestay (the veggies in pancake was soooo good!), and then a final ferry to our actual homestay for the evening. All up we did just over 70km and while I was a little tired from the riding and heat I felt good.

So we took our small boat to the homestay, which was a nice place… part hotel part homestay. It was short on the comforts but flowing with the hospitality and beer… and doggo! We even rolled our sleeves up (so to speak) to make our own dinner… spring rolls and more of the same pancake we had for lunch. I was happy that mine was quite edible!

A few of us played cards for a couple of hours, before it was time for sleep.