Day 3
My trip from Long Xuyên was a very interesting one. While the distance wasn’t the longest the miles were the most varied.

The adventure started before I even left town. The plan was that I was to cross the river at least three times during the day. Not all of those crossings were strictly necessary. I just thought, when I was mapping out the route from the comfort of my computer in Kodaira, Japan, that it would be more interesting. What I didn’t know then was how interesting those crossings would be or that they weren’t bridge crossings. 

Getting Taken For A Ride
The first crossing was near my hotel in Long Xuyên. The ferry dock, which I had found the previous night while looking for my hotel, was located in a busy market. When I got there at around 8 a.m. business was already booming. While I was still scoping things out a man approached me with a business card. He was trying to sell me something. I had no idea what he was saying and I didn’t take a very close look at the card before turning him down but I did notice the word Dien. The local name for the branch of the Mekong that flows past Long Xuyên. 

I rolled my loaded bike to the ferry dock where the man and two others approached me again. This time I thought, okay maybe this guy is trying to tell me about the ferry or maybe a water taxi. So, through the power of Google Translate, I asked him how much and whether I pay before or after. I understood him to say 15. Based on my limited experience in Vietnam that usually mean 15,000 dong. I thought that was a bit high for a ferry as I only paid 2,000 the day before. But what do I know? I am far from being an expert on the Vietnamese ferry system. 

I agreed to the deal. I rolled up to the dock and watched as a ferry came in. I watched motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians and even a car disembark. Just as I was about board the man came alongside in a wooden sampan (I’m not sure that his the proper word for it. Normally, this landlubber would call it a skiff.)

My next thought was, “Okay. That’s not a ferry. Did I just contract for a private water taxi?” There was a good reason for why I thought this. Just moments before a similar boat had docked in front of me with a small boy and a woman with a load of fruit.

The boatman loaded my bike onto his boat then I boarded. Across from the ferry dock and the market was an island which, according to the map the ferry would go around on the downstream side to another larger island on the other side. My boat captain headed downstream and appeared to be following the ferry route. So far, so good. But that was all just coincidence. The sampan continued downstream past all the working boats on the river. I realized I was being taken for a ride. 

There are many boats of varying sizes and types on the river. You might even say the river is crowded with them. They mostly hug the shoreline which in this part of the river is choked with water plants. (Watch the video from this part of the trip to get the larger story of this part of my tour.)

At one point the boatman shut down the motor to clear the rotor of water vines that had tangled around it. The other astonishing incident was when he idled the motor and walked to the back of the boat where I was sitting. He opened a hold behind me and pulled out a dead duck. Mumbling he threw it down on the floor in front of me with a very annoyed look on his face. I don’t know if he was annoyed because he was trying to keep it alive or because the bird somehow interfered with his boat and died or some other reason.

The final surprise came when we returned to the ferry dock about a half hour or so after we left. The boatman and one of his compatriots on shore lifted my fully loaded bike out of the boat. I pulled 15,000 dong out to pay the man. Through gestures and pointing at the money in my wallet he made it clear that price was not 15,000 dong. The price was 150,000 dong. Wow! I got taken for a ride in more ways than one. When you say the price in dong it seems high but when you do the conversion is comes to about 750 yen or 7 dollars and 50 cents. Not much but when you consider that ferry I was planning to take would have cost about 15 cents I can’t help feeling that I got scammed. However, looking back I feel like it was money well spent. It gave me a rare view into the lives of the people who live and work on the Mekong River.

After my river excursion I decided I had spent enough time on boats and the cool morning hours were burning up in the sun. I made the decision to cut out the first two ferry rides that would have just brought me back to the same side of the river. The route change would shorten my day by only two or three kilometers but boarding ferries would take considerably more time than just a 3 km detour represents. It turns out that there were still 2 more ferries ahead of me that I couldn’t avoid so easily. 

After finally leaving Long Xuyên I followed Highway 91 for awhile. Just when I thought it would be highway riding all the way I came to another ferry crossing. This one I managed to take without unsolicited river tours or exorbitant fees. The road on the other side of the river took me through a village that seems to be 5 km long and a 50 meter wide stretch on the east side of the river. This area has a booming incense cottage industry. The street was lined with shops drying sticks of incense in the sun. I also passed a few places drying cattle dung in the sun. And in case you are wondering, no, it didn’t stink. Around 11:00 it was starting to warm up and I began looking for a cafe where I could take a break and get a cold drink. I came upon the only grocery store I found during my entire trip. I really like grocery shopping so this was as good a place as any to take a break. I bought a 2 liter bottle of water, a Coke, and an orange.

Since I had just had a snack and I thought that I would continue riding through an area where I could easily find a restaurant or street food I decided to take a lunch break around 1:00. Little did I know that the environment would change drastically in just a few short minutes. 

Lunch On The Hoof
Only a few meters from the grocery store was the second and last ferry for the day. Within 10 minutes of crossing the river I found myself peddling along a dirt track parallel to a small branch of the larger river amongst rice fields. The land became sparsely populated with little farmsteads. I passed rice fields, duck farms, and what I think was a fresh water shellfish farm but not a single cafe or street vendor. 

At first I wasn’t worried because I knew I was going to a large town and I assumed I would see more businesses sooner or later. It turned out to be later. 1:30 rolled around and there still wasn’t anything like food anywhere in sight. Cafe or no, I was hot, hungry and thirsty. I had to take a break. I noticed from time to time there were water cooler jugs placed alongside the road. When I found one of the jugs and a rotten, makeshift bench being guarded by two placid looking head of cattle I decided to stop for a break. Check out the video to see how all of this goes down.

Warmshowers Homestay
I stayed the night in Tan Châu with David, a warmshower’s host. He and his extended family were very kind and gracious hosts. It was my first time using warmshowers.org. Warmshowers.org is a web site where people who are willing to host bicycle tourists for a night or two can register. The response from most of the would-be hosts was very poor except for David, who responded quickly to all of my messages. I feel very lucky to have been able to stay with him. It gave me an opportunity to see past the front door of all the houses I passed on my bike. I was welcomed into the home and the private life of my host for a brief space of time.

David asked me to visit his English classes. I was glad to make a guest appearance. It was a small price to pay for hosting me. And if my appearances helped enhanced his reputation as a cool teacher that can bring interesting foreigners to the class then I am glad to have helped. 

I don’t want to talk too much about my experience with David because I fear it would be revealing too much of his private life. I do want to say that he fed me dinner and breakfast, provided me with a shower, a bed to sleep on, and I was able to wash my clothes which was a big help. 

I realize that I didn’t take many photos or videos of his home and in retrospect I glad I didn’t for reasons of respecting his privacy.  I will describe his front room as this is visible from the street and if you happened to pass by you could see what I am about to describe. 

The front room is a large multipurpose room which is completely open to the street during the day and can be closed off by a metal shutter at night. The family uses it as a dining room, a living room where the family can relax, a place to entertain guests, and David uses it as a classroom for his private English classes. Because one wall is completely open to the street it is bright and airy. And because it is open the geckos are free to come and go as they please. During dinner I counted 9 geckos clinging to the wall facing me. I think the army of geckos are to thank for the lack of bugs in the house.

Lessons Learned:
Pack a little extra food in case you find yourself far from any restaurant or store at lunchtime.
Map out grocery stores and restaurants in advance.

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Day 2
I was really reluctant to leave Nguyen Shack near Cần Thơ. I had such a good stay there that I wanted to stay longer. But, alas, I had a schedule to keep and the hostel was full the next night. I had no choice but to move on. I bid farewell to the hostel’s cat and puppies and set off for Long Xuyên and promptly took a wrong turn. The riding was so pleasant I neglected to check the map. I went a considerable distance out of my way before I realized my mistake. If I had properly mapped out this segment of my tour I could have cut out 10 or more kilometers. Ah well, these things happen.

Since I had come somewhat away from the main branch of the river (Sông Hậu River, a branch of the Mekong River) I worked my way back towards National Highway 91. In Vietnam the National Highways are accessible to all manner of vehicles, including those being pulled by animals. For cars, buses and trucks there is a toll in some places but bicycles and motorcycles can use them for free. In fact, at the toll booth there is a special lane next to the shoulder where two wheeled vehicles can get through without paying the toll.

Almost the entire day was spent on Highway 91. When I say highway you may be picturing a four lane divided highway with exit and entrance ramps and trucks and automobiles whizzing by at 75 miles an hour. It is nothing like that. You would be closer to the real deal if you pictured a county highway going through the outskirts of a small town. But even that image misses the mark. All along the road there are cafes and restaurants, street vendors and even clothing sellers. There aren’t many side roads between the towns so it feels like all the life of the country exists within a few dozen meters of the highway or in the cities and towns. I know this isn’t true but that’s the way it feels when you spend all day on the road and can’t see much beyond the buildings that line it. Perhaps I should have taken more detours off the highway. Maybe next time. 

I don’t know what the speed limit on the National Highway system in Vietnam is as I never saw any speed limit signs the entire time I was in Vietnam but it seems like traffic was going no faster than 50 or 60 kph. At no point did I ever feel like I was in any danger. There are so many motorcycles, bicycles, and carts being pulled or pushed by people that I think drivers are used to slow moving vehicles. Something that is noticeable right from the start is that Vietnamese streets are noisy from all of the horn honking. There are many different tones and rhythms to the honking. Trucks, cars and motorcycles all have their own sound and there is a lot of variation among types. If this were in North America or Japan you would assume that the drivers are always impatient and irritated. But that is not the case. Honking the horn is just a way for faster moving road users to say to slower road users, “I am coming up behind you and I am going to pass you so stay where you are. Don’t meander.” I sometimes wished I too had a klaxon when I passed slower moving cyclists and pedestrians. Unfortunately, on the busy streets it is impossible to tell who is beeping at who.

For people who come from orderly, rule based countries Vietnamese streets may seem, at first glance, like chaotic places where there are no rules. I saw very few traffic lights during the hours I spent on National Highway 91 and the city streets of Can Thơ and Long Xuyên. Intersections seem chaotic but they are a lot easier to navigate than you would expect. The key to getting across the street is move slowly, steadily and in a predictable manner. This is true for pedestrians, bicycles and even motorcycles and 4 wheeled vehicles. If others can predict where you are going they will adjust their path to flow around you just as you are adjusting your path to avoid them. It just works. Just like Adam Smith’s invisible had.

You would be tempted to think that there were frequent accidents with serious injuries. During my time in Vietnam I didn’t see any accidents. I did see a woman have a little incident with her scooter in Long Xuyên. I heard a crashing noises. When I turned to look, I saw a woman picking her scooter up off the ground. I don’t know what caused her to dump her ride but she didn’t appear to be hurt and I didn’t see anyone else involved. I think one factor that might prevent a lot of serious injuries is the slower speed which traffic moves at. The axiom that speed kills is very true.

Another thing I noticed is the ubiquitousness of free Wi-Fi. Putting the dangers of free Wi-Fi aside, it was easier to get a Wi-Fi connection in Vietnam than it is in Tokyo. I stopped for lunch at a roadside eating place that advertised free Wi-Fi. (Calling it a restaurant would give you the wrong impression.) I asked the lady running the place for the password because I didn’t see it posted anywhere. She took my phone and entered the password herself. That was an interesting meal. I didn’t really have any idea what the place offered. Through the power of Google Translate I said something like “I would like something to eat. What do you have?” The woman said something I didn’t understand and I said “Okay”. I had no idea what I was going to get. It turned out to be a plate of rice with some barbecue meat (my guess is pork) and a little bowl of soup. It was delicious. While I was sitting at a low table eating my lunch, the woman’s little boy, no more than 18 months I would guess.) was toddling around the place. He was clearly curious about me but was a little shy. I smiled at him and made funny faces at him and soon he ventured to my table. As I said, the table was low and the boy could easily see me across the table. Without understanding each other we spent a few pleasant minutes playing.

A very common establishment along National Highway 91 are cafes. I saw many signs that said “Cafe Võng”. I saw so many of them I thought it must be a chain store. I found out later that it is not a chain store. It is just a type of cafe. The outstanding characteristic of Cafe Võng is that they usually have hammocks for the guests. You can get a cold drink and rest for awhile in a hammock. These are popular along the National Highway because it is tiring work riding a motorcycle along the highway. Riders like to pull off for a while and take a rest before continuing on with their business.

Thanks to my wrong turns and detours in the morning I road 80 plus kilometers. I arrived in Long Xuyên in late afternoon. Fortunately, I was able to find my hotel without too much trouble. I stayed at a place called Amidi Cafe and Homestay. The name is a bit misleading. It’s true, there was a cafe on the street level but it wasn’t a home stay. It is a good thing that I wasn’t expecting one. The girl working the front desk led me to my room on the second floor and gave me a card and a key. The card was for turning on the electricity in the room. The key was for the padlock on the door. That’s right. A padlock. The room didn’t have a proper doorknob with a keyhole. It had a handle and on both sides of the door there was a place to pass the padlock through to secure it to the door jamb.

I laid down on the cool floor for an hour and inspected the inside of my eyelids for light leaks. For about an hour I found no evidence damage. As the sun went down I heard noise like a big party coming from across the street. When I looked out the door I discovered that I was across the street from 2 large open-air restaurants that were doing brisk business. I went down to the front desk to ask the girl which restaurant was better. With broken English she told me that they were the same and that there was another restaurant around the corner that was better. Taking the word of the local I went around the corner and found a very large, somewhat opulently decorated restaurant that was empty. I thought maybe they weren’t open yet but the waiter welcomed me in. That’s where it got difficult. Problem one: the menu was written all in Vietnamese. Problem two: there were almost no pictures. Like you see in many restaurants the main menu was a nicely bound book of several pages. Inserted into the menu book was one page of specials with pictures. This was kind of fancy restaurant so the prices, I feel, were a bit higher but I thought they were acceptable. I ordered the cheapest thing from the specials menu because the food in the picture looked like some kind of stir fry and I ordered a beer. It is good that I ordered a beer because the dish I ordered was a bit too spicy for me. I did my best to eat as much of it as I could but I had to order another beer to put the fire in my mouth out. I also spent about 20 minutes looking up words on the main menu with Google Translate until I found a dish I could understand. Spinach! I ordered the spinach dish as well. I was expecting a small to mediumish dish of boiled spinach. What I got was a large, heaping plate of spinach. It was good but far too much for me to eat. When I asked for the bill the waiter asked me if I wanted to take it with me. I considered only for the briefest of moments but I rejected the idea because I had no way to carry it.

Lessons Learned
1. Properly map out any side excursions and the route to and from your hotel in advance.

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Day 1
I give the Ngoc Lan Hotel 5 stars. What qualifies a hotel for 5 stars? That’s a fair question. I’m glad you asked. I was able to check in at 11:00 at night even though my reservation was canceled.  The room was clean, free Wi-Fi, air-conditioned, on the first floor, spacious, everything in the room functioned properly. What more could you ask for? Maybe you would downgrade the rating because the fixtures weren’t solid gold, no concierge service, pool, workout room, breakfast or caviar in the mini fridge or a newspaper hanging on the door in the morning. Those are good things and who doesn’t like to be pampered once in a while. But none of that matters when you tired and sweaty and on the verge of a what may be an epic great trip or an epic failure. A comfortable bed, a warm shower and a safe room to sleep is all you really need. You can hear all about how I got to the Ngoc Lan Hotel in Soc Trăng by listening to my podcast or watching the video.

I awoke to to the rooster showing off his vocal abilities somewhere in the distance. I thought it was curious that there would be chickens in town but gave the topic no further thought. What I didn’t know is that chickens are everywhere in Vietnam except maybe Ho Chi Minh City. 

The first order of business was to reassemble Mini-V. I took her and most of my gear out of her cardboard enclosure. I was grateful that she wasn’t any worse for the wear. It took me about an hour to get the old girl back together and loaded up with my gear. Since the hotel did not have any breakfast service I decided to get breakfast out on the road. I straddled my iron pony and stood at the edge of the road and watched the steady stream of traffic and I wondered two things. One, which way do I go to start my journey? Two, how was I going to get across the street if my route required a left turn. I convinced myself that the way I needed to go was to the right. I think I was just intimidated by the traffic and wanted to ease my way into the flow. As soon as I started rolling the GPS on my phone got a solid fix and showed that my instinct to go left was right and my desire to go right was wrong. I took a right turn down a side street hoping I could loop back to my route. It didn’t work out that way. I ended up doubling back and retracing my tire tracks. On the way back I found the chickens and roosters that greeted me so vociferously earlier. They were under large wire cages that looked like a basket turned upside down. The owners can easily lift up the basket cage when it is time to take their chicken for a walk or steal their eggs.

I could no longer avoid making a left turn across traffic and you know what? It wasn’t so bad. I definitely survived. With that small victory behind me I gained confidence that carried me through the next couple turns. Uh oh! Trouble ahead. A huge roundabout! Thanks to my deep research on the topic of roundabouts (I listened to a Stuff You Should Know podcast about roundabouts and I have experienced roundabouts in such exotic locations as New Jersey, Australia and Kunitachi), I was ready for this. I boldly went where no mini-velo has gone before…across the street. It was a piece of cake. The traffic just flowed around the idiot on a bicycle. More evidence to back up my theory that no sane motorist really wants to run you over. So long as you are a predictable and visible bicycle rider your odds of surviving are better than your odds of surviving a double tall triple mocha espresso at Starbucks are?

As I rolled on to the National Highway 1 I couldn’t believe I had actually done it. Somehow, I had gotten myself and my bicycle all the way from Kodaira, Japan to Soc Trăng, Vietnam using trains, buses and taxis. I was cycling in Vietnam! I was so excited and fascinated by everything I saw during those first couple of hours that time and the miles flew by. As the morning began to warm up I realized I hadn’t filled my water bottles before leaving. I pulled off the road at a little general store where I could buy a couple bottles of water. 

At this point I think it would be enlightening to talk about National Highway 1. It isn’t a highway in the same way that I-5 is or the Autobahn is. There is a toll but there are no exit ramps or entrance ramps, no high speed traffic. The road is lined with street vendors, cafes, motorcycle shops and businesses pressing hard on to the edge of the road. It is easy to pull off at any point for an ice coffee, a motorcycle repair or load up your motorcycle, pushcart, bicycle or ox cart with goods and materials.

Around 11:00 a.m. I realized that in my excitement I had forgotten to eat breakfast. I took a break at a roadside cafe. A word about Vietnamese architecture. Most buildings are wide open on the side facing the street. They may or may not have a shutter to close them up at night. This design allows for easy access from the street and breezes to cool off the interior. Many establishments have hammocks strung up. Sometimes the hammocks are for customers sometimes they are not. It appears most establishments are family run and the building does double duty as business and home.

Back on the road I pedaled for another two hours before the heat of the day started to wear me down. I took a break at a petrol station to rest for a bit in the shade before continuing on. I eventually left National Road 1 and the Sông Hậu River to find my lodgings.

I booked a bed at a hostel called Nguyen Shack. From the time I made my reservation I knew this place was going to be a great place to stay. The reviews for it on the booking site were all lavish with praise and the pictures were enticing. Nguyen Shack did not disappoint. The staff spoke English and were very friendly and helpful. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was relaxing and homey. Nguyen Shack is a hostel so it might not be everyone’s cup of team. While there were private rooms I opted to share a 4 person room. There were two men whom I guess were German but were listening to French music and what sounded like French language lessons. I don’t know what was up with that. I didn’t ask. They kept to themselves and I didn’t intrude. Amiable indifference. The other fellow was a Frenchman named Fabrice. We had a wonderful evening swapping stories and playing the hostel’s acoustic guitar. He was truly talented while, at my best, I’m just a ham-handed hack. I met other interesting travelers in the dining/lounge are. A retired couple from Washington DC who were traveling with a Vietnamese fellow who seemed to be working as their private guide. The American man was stationed in Vietnam during the war and seemed to be genuinely interested in how the places he knew as a soldier had changed. Then there was the young British couple that had been traveling in Vietnam for 9 weeks. They would stay in a city until they had seen and done all there was to do for touristsand then move on to the next.  I also met a Spanish family of 4 who had come to Vietnam as part of a larger tour around Asia. For more about my stay at Nguyen Shack check out my videos and photos.

Lessons Learned
Sometimes you have to leave a place when you don’t want to. If you can, build some extra days into your schedule so you can be more flexible.

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