Mai Chau- Bike Ride and Swim by Eashan

This morning we awoke early in the morning for our long drive ahead to our homestay. On the way we saw spectacular views overlooking Pom Coong where we then drove down to where our homestay was.

When we got there we were taken to our room which was upstairs in a building on stilts! Millen and I were both very excited. In Hanoi I had recently bought a type of shuttlecock which was for a game called dacau which is like badminton except which your feet which I was quick to get out given the space. There was also a pool overlooking a hill on which the rest of the village was. You could also see the mountains way off into the distance which was super special, especially when the sun dipped down between the 2 tallest ones.

In the afternoon, after a delicious platter of loads of food for lunch, we went for a 14km cycle ride in the village and its surroundings We even stopped in some paddy fields to plant some rice with the local farmers and struggled to keeps ours as neat as theirs yet have I just missed it they remained good humoured about our efforts. We weren't very good and got very muddy but it was still a great experience.

Most of the communities in this area are actually Thai people, an ethnic group with two local branches, White Thai and Black Thai.. this is not skin colour related by the way. The Thai people are highly skilled at wet rice cultivation and their homes are built in a raised stilt style. I sampled my first sticky rice sticks here and am a big fan!

Once we got back Millen and I went to play football with the local kids whilst the others sat and relaxed for a bit. When we came back from football, we were extremely sweaty so we went for a midnight dip (although it was only 9:30) and the underwater rainbow lights even came on for them. Then we settled down for the night with our bellies full from another delicious dinner.Read more