The backroads

(click on the "play" button) The beauty of the Mekong region for cycling is that it's pancake flat. Not a hill in sight. It's a land of lush banana trees and rice fields tied together by paved backroads and ferries. Coming from the town of Tra Vinh last night, we took 2 more 5-cent ferries today to get us to the town of Ben Tre. Easy day today. Only 48 km. We were all set up in our hotel room by 10:30 in the morning. Funny though, it always feels like 3 in the afternoon no matter what time of day it is. By 8 am, it's hot...real hot, and it doesn't let up until the sun goes down. But we're getting things pretty dialed now. We learned the Vietnamese word for "ice coffee" and now look forward to our morning iced coffee after we put in our first 20 kms or so. The coffee is amazing here. Like a shot of espresso. And then there's the afternoon mango smoothies, but that's another story. And the noodle soup, oh and the spring rolls...OK, all other stories (we'll do a food post at some point).

The Tra Vinh and Ben Tre region is known for its pagodas and Cambodian (Kymer) cultural connections. So we've been taking in a bit of the culture. Apparently most Kymer boys between the ages of 15 and 20 set aside some time to live as monks. Yesterday we visited the Ong Met Pagado and the monks were happy to let us look around.

Tomorrow we say good-bye to the Mekong, and hello to the South China Sea. Phase 2 of the trip begins tomorrow. We're heading north along the coast, with our sights ultimately set on Hanoi, way way way up there. Yikes! Seems like an impossibly long way to go, but Amy's little chicken legs (soon to be thunder thighs) are going strong. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we'll be having a beer on the ocean...