I had a very restless night of sleep in our hotel. Maybe the end was near and what has been a long and fascinating ride was coming to an end or maybe I was suffering from restless leg syndrome?! Whatever it was I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and even the sun wasn’t ready to get up. I played a few mindless games of Bejewled until I woke Rich up. If one of us isn’t going to sleep than someone needs to keep me company. No, really, he just woke, too. We talked about coming home earlier than scheduled and when we got to Saigon we would see if we could change our tickets. I think we were ready to come home.

Our breakfast is always interesting. Asians eat some crazy things for breakfast. Not that one has to have eggs and bacon as a norm but noodle soup with all the fixins? Just crazy icky for me! I have been settling for a little toast, jam and lukewarm coffee. Not only do the Vietnamese drink their coffee incredibly sweet but lukewarm, too. I swear it looks hot as it comes out of the pot but by the time it hits my lips the heat has evaporated into a sugary coffee flavor drink not at all considered drinkable by me! Oh, how I miss my coffee machine! (And my cats, my pillow, a hot shower, Thai food and pizza!)

We are riding from the hotel today, which is a semi good sign. Jim has a new bike for the last day of riding and that makes him a little happier. We are all struggling with really trying to find the good in these last few days of riding. Something happened as we crossed over the border into Viet Nam. I don’t think it was the whole border crossing fiasco but we just are not clicking with this new country and the guide. The driver, Tanh, is darling and was doing his best to keep us comfortable. He has even expanded his vocabulary to, “Good morning. How are you?”, Thank you very much. You are welcome.” He runs to the water cooler every time I touch my water bottle. I say “thank you” in Vietnamese and he answers, “you are welcome” in english. We laugh together. And, he’s small enough to fit in my suitcase, I am sure of it!

Back to the road: We leave town weaving in and out of the morning traffic. Inh stops twice to ask for directions and I fear that we will do 60K just trying to get out of town! Getting lost in Viet Nam was not on our itinerary. Fear not, Inh speaks fluent Vietnamese and we are back on track. Before leaving town we visit two mega stone Buddhas. Inh told us one had just been finished at the cost of 2M USD. Kind of weird here in communist Viet Nam. Most of the Buddhist temples that we have seen throughout Thailand and Cambodia have been replaced with statues of the new government; just an interesting observation.

We spend most of today on the back waters of the the Mekong Delta. It is an extremely lush growing arena for rice, vegetables and fruit. We are all amazed at how green everything is here. It is no wonder that wars have been fought over the domination of this land. Vuttha (Cambodia guide) says that Viet Nam is continually taking little bits and pieces of Cambodia on the border. The Mekong Delta area produces around 30M metric tons of rice a year and exports over 6M tons worldwide.

It is an interesting fact that most of the roads in the Mekong Delta were built by the US armed forces during the Viet Nam war (or American War as Viet Nam calls it) and they are still standing strong. Inh’s father fought against the USA and was part of the re-education of the people movement. He has some pretty strong views about what happened during the war and I am sure it is because of his upbringing. He grew up in a communist country and he learned the history through their eyes, just as we learn about ours. No judgment, just an observation. It might also be why he is not super warm and fuzzy like our other guides have been. Not that he doesn’t like us but he is just not amiable.

At one point Inh took us on a path through the rice patties. Oh, my, God! The path was about 18” wide. Sometimes it was cement, most of the time dirt. It made very sharp turns and I had to click out fast or go down. He asked if we wanted to go on the path and when we said, “No”, he said it was really quite pretty and peaceful. So, trying to make him feel like we wanted to ride with him, I said, “okay” and we took off on the path of terror. When we got off, I said let’s not do that again and he laughed. Still trying to find out what he thought was so funny!

At 50K we met up with the two support vans and we called it a ride. I am not sure I could have done anymore; not because I had spent myself riding but because my butt hurt so bad from being in the saddle so long and going nowhere. I have to say, it was kind of anti-climactic. Rich was waiting for us with the drivers at a little cafe and we took pictures to commemorate the final ride. I really missed having Rich on the ride. It seemed like I was on vacation with myself without him being on the bike with me. I know it had been a difficult journey for him, too because he would have loved the ride. Riding is something we have always done together and only half is not the same as a whole. Ouch, sounds like someone needs a little therapy time?!

Back in the van, the Viet Nam van ride we’ve decided to call it. Destination: Saigon and the Vien Dong Hotel. The ride has ended, now just a little sightseeing and souvenir shopping before coming home.



Link to today’s photos

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