Life is better on a bicycle

Today was a fantastic day! We left Ho Chi Minh City early and headed out of town for the 1st day of our 3 day bike tour of the Mekong Delta. We have our own tour guide, and he’s so great. We meandered through backroads, some not much more than a concrete barrier for a waterway and not much wider than the bike (a little nerve-wracking) , some roads unpaved, and all places we would have not seen had we been traveling in a vehicle. The area was so much more beautiful than I expected. As Bryan said, it was as if we were pedaling through a botanical garden all day. David (his English name), our guide, frequently stopped at interesting places and explained some item of interest or factoid about Vietnamese culture. We saw lots of different fruits. In fact, someone harvesting coconut by the side of the road insisted on opening coconuts so we could have coconut water fresh from the fruit. We saw rice paper being made, rice being popped, had the best soup of my life (not pho-something else) at a little hole in the wall sort of place-I even drank snake wine-oh yes I did! We capped the day off with a boat ride through the Mekong to our “homestay” where we had a little cooking lesson and ate more great food. Tomorrow the bike adventure continues…Lue lisää