Day 3

I had no idea how day 3 of biking was going to turn out.  The welts turned to bruises and my forearms ached beyond the capabilities of my extra strength IBUs but once I traded bike seats, I was ready to take on a whole new day.  It appears my original seat was made of some type of brick about the width of a toothpick. My new seat was slightly softer and wider - almost a pillow topped mattress compared to the other seat.  At least I developed some new pressure points.  Plus we decided to only go 60 km instead of 90km so we could enjoy the end of the day instead of falling asleep in our dinner.

The morning started with a boat ride to the floating market in Cai Be.  As we walked toward the boat, I realized that I forgot the camera memory card in my computer (located in the van). With no time to run back, I had to let go of my need to record everything and just sit back and enjoy the experience.  Easier said than done but eventually I came to the conclusion that there must be thousands of pictures of the market on the Internet if I really wanted a record.  It turned out our guide, Phat, had lots of pictures that he transferred onto my memory card once we were back in the van. So bit of a learning moment - one of many it seems.  The floating market is a wholesale market where farmers or traders come in with a boatload (literally) of produce for sale to local people, stores or restaurants.  To advertise what they have to sell, they hang a sample of their produce from a pole at the front of the boat. It is chaos. People will live on these boats until their produce is gone, then they pack up and head for home. There are also floating coffee shops - little boats with drinks or food.  They hook onto your boat and float along with you as you drink from their cups or eat from their bowls. 

Floating market - pictures compliments of Phat

Pole advertsing

Day 3 takes us from Cai Be in the Mekong Delta to the undulating hills near the Cambodian border ending in the town of Chau Doc. We rode through the villages of the Mekong for 30 km then stopped for a fabulous bowl of noodle soup.  After lunch we took an hour long kidney crushing ride in the van and hit the undulating hills just in time to enjoy the 3000+ degree afternoon sun on smooth black asphalt. I just about melted on the spot when I stepped out of the air conditioned van.  The scenery was amazing though and the heat was better once we were moving.

Rice fields and Mountains

Mid-day heat - no shade.

We stopped riding at 60 km. That left us with enough time to climb to the top of the "mountain"for sunset. The mountain turned out to be a beautiful monastery so we promptly grabbed a few beers and some fried jackfruit chips and climbed the stairs to find a seat. 

The sunset didn't disappoint.  We ended our day and our time with Phat listening to"Still Loving You" by the Scorpions (compliments of a loudspeaker in the village), drinking our '333' Vietnam beer and getting our last questions in about this beautiful area of Vietnam.