Day 3 – Mekong Delta - livinginthekingdom.me

Day 3 - Long Xuyen to Cai Be

A challenging day. A biked 95 km in bright sunlight except for the last 5 km. The temperature was over 40 degrees for most of the day. There was some nice travel on back roads but there was also travel on dual carriageways with traffic speeding past at 100 km/hr.

I was pretty exhausted when I arrived at my hotel, Sao Mai Hotel, where I am paying $11.13 for the night. Well under budget. Again it is on the outskirts of town but I am pretty stuffed so will have a quiet Saturday night.

But there were a number of very pleasant surprises through the day.

Morning Coffee

My morning coffee. I love the Vietnamese way that they have coffee. And this place was just a little roadside cafe where the coffee was great.

The price 13000 dong or just 50 cents.

Now that is going to help the budget

The Ferry

I crossed the Mekong (or one of its branches) on a ferry to avoid the bridge in the photos below. When I went to pay the person refused to accept any money (though other walk on passengers did pay). He “said “free for you”.

You can see some houses build right to and over the waters edge. This is both cooler and cheaper.

Churches

There are many churches across the Mekong Delta. Left over from French Colonial times. They are impressive.

Interestingly there are very few churches in Cambodia. The French saw the Vietnamese and Cambodians as quite different.

These photos are just one of many churches.

Crossing the Mekong - Again

There were two parallel bridges that crossed the Mekong or one of its branches. One was the expressway and one was a dual carriage roadway. Getting the right bridge took some time (and distance on the bike).

The dual carriage way was very busy and the traffic was fast. Not pleasant riding. I did follow this road for about 25 Kilometres. It was a challenge

There were some wonderful views over the river. There was a lot of barges and freight boats moving both ways.

A Walk

The hotel I was staying at was on the edge of town on one of the branches of the Mekong. Many people live on the Mekong river in Vietnam as it is cheaper, cooler and there is food from the river always.