The ferry departed Phnom Penh at 8am, some 20 backpackers and I headed south for a 4 hour trip down the Mekong to Chau Doc in Vietnam. The journey itself was fairly uneventful, the banks of this mighty river giving way to small waterside communities and agriculture. Occasional larger water craft would pass, ploughing their way towards Phnom Penh. Three quarters of the journey completed, we pulled into a muddy river bank, climbed some steps at the top of which was a building that turned out to be the Cambodian checkpoint. The passport handed in, stamped, then back on the boat and off downstream to the Vietnamese border where a similar pattern was repeated. Thats the first river border crossing I have encountered, and it was very easy.
Chau Doc is one of several large towns and communities located within the Mekong Delta. As a town, it doesn't have a great deal to offer, but it is one of the busiest, especially with tourists, as its the link to Cambodia and a coach service also runs directly to Saigon. The following morning Cynthia and I set off to cycle through the Delta region. Humidity here is higher than I have experienced so far; to the extent that I became a dripping wreck within a few minutes. As the day progressed, every part of your anatomy sticks to other bits with the result that the constant sweat, friction and movement causes quite painful and uncomfortably raw tackle; thank goodness for showers and vaseline!!!!! For those of you who like route details, having left Chau Doc, the first port of call was Sa Dec and then Tan An before finally arriving in Saigon. The Delta region is characterised by an almost continuous number of villages and small towns; many of these communities set in small inlets surrounded by mangroves; the route also takes you over numerous large bridges beneath which are the tributaries of the Mekong. The scale of the delta region is quite something.
I have heard that people have deliberately avoided Vietnam because of a certain reputation it is supposed to have. Having been in this country for only 5 days (not long I grant you to form a conclusive opinion) from my experience so far, I would like to dispel all the negatives about this place. The people are equally as friendly as any I have met in South East Asia; maybe not as vociferous as their Cambodian neighbours (but then no one would be on that scale). I still get all the smiles, acknowledgements, the mick taken out of me and scooters coming alongside chatting and patting me on the back. Without question, the key is the way I am travelling. I'm not criticising backpackers, only a handful of years ago I backpacked through Australia, New Zealand and South America for the best part of a year and loved the experience. To some extent though, when you are reliant upon buses, trains etc to get you from place A to place B, you do isolate yourself from much of what is going on around you. That's not to say that when you arrive that you don't make the effort to integrate with the locals, which of course a lot of backpackers do. The difference is that on a bike, you integrate every minute of your whole journey and for me this is the most enjoyable part of the journey. I have no desire to see any more markets or religious icons, but to experience the day to day life of the people with whom you are sharing this brief experience is to my mind the most valuable and satisfying. There is a huge curiosity factor when I pull in to a street cafe for a drink; it is quite normal to sit with them at their request and chat, usually in sign language. Cynthia is a major curiosity in her own right (so rightly named if you know my ex-mother in law!), she attracts a group wherever she is parked up. When in Dubai I purchased a klaxon and I always know when I go in a shop or somewhere for advice, that someone will squeeze the klaxon; they love it. I always hear it everytime and when I come out I am met with wide grins. I can give you two instances so far where the locals have gone beyond the call of duty to help this idiot Englishman. On one occasion, a young girl who I had asked directions, got on her scooter and rode to where I needed to turn off (probably darn glad to get shot of me!). The second time was in Sa Dec, where I had just arrived and asked a feller and his son about accommodation for the night. No worries, they got on their scooter and again rode in front taking me to a superb hotel where the staff where unbelievably kind.
So what of Vietnam? Well one of the advantages of cycling is that you get a flavour of the people, the place and the driving conditions. The first two I have covered in the above paragraph, now to the real fun part. As you will observe from an atlas, Vietnam is thin and linear in shape; its not that big an area, but large enough to accommodate 90 million people. Given the topography, including the mountain region further north, then there is only so much room for these people to live and consequently, they congregate along the roads and water courses. Vietnam has a population that is some 6 times the size of Cambodia, so cycling through the Delta, pretty well every village or town is linked to the next to form a continuous urban scape along every road. The villages are bustling, always something going on and its clear that Vietnam is a wealthier country than Cambodia; there are a lot of building and construction projects in progress, notably bridges. Now to the traffic. Commensurate with the size of population their are millions of scooters, simply an unbelievable number. Having cycled for a few days I am now fully seized with traffic methodology. For a start, its absolutely fine to proceed against the traffic flow, and at all times, traffic entering the road from the left do so without sight or forthought, they just do it. In order to develop a successful technique, the key word is 'weaving'. Never stop whether you are on a bike, scooter or vehicle or a pedestrian; keep going in a deliberate manner and all traffic will weave in and out of you. The first couple of times, it is quite nerve wracking, but you get used to it. Another rule of the road is that it is quite ok to go round a roundabout the wrong way. This is great since your survival rate increases by missing out junctions to get to the one you want. The noise is deafening, everyone, but everyone seems to have the horn on non stop. I have to say though that the locals clearly recognising a foreigner when they see one, very often 'shelter' you by letting you come alongside and protecting you; they also are very respectful, well most are, so once you know whats likely to happen, its not too bad. Cycling into Saigon was not as bad as London, Istanbul or even Bangkok.
I shall be in Saigon for a couple of days only; its expensive and a typical big city. Big it is, having a population of 8 million; that's about the size of Bangkok. You are advised to stay in Districts 1,3 and 5 which is the modern downtown core, with all the fancy hotels and highrise offices. Its worth being here to see the traffic, strangely there are no tuk tuks here. From here its a cycle ride along Highway 1 to Da Nang and north. Highway 1 is a poorly maintained road, barely the equivalent of an average A road in England, more like a B road in many places. Have found a diner style restaurant just around the corner from where I am staying which is great to bulk up. For the last few days I have been living on street food which in some cases doesn't hang around too long in the digestive tract! Not sure when the next blog will be, probably Ha Long Bay. Cheers for now, time for a little exploring.
Chau Doc is one of several large towns and communities located within the Mekong Delta. As a town, it doesn't have a great deal to offer, but it is one of the busiest, especially with tourists, as its the link to Cambodia and a coach service also runs directly to Saigon. The following morning Cynthia and I set off to cycle through the Delta region. Humidity here is higher than I have experienced so far; to the extent that I became a dripping wreck within a few minutes. As the day progressed, every part of your anatomy sticks to other bits with the result that the constant sweat, friction and movement causes quite painful and uncomfortably raw tackle; thank goodness for showers and vaseline!!!!! For those of you who like route details, having left Chau Doc, the first port of call was Sa Dec and then Tan An before finally arriving in Saigon. The Delta region is characterised by an almost continuous number of villages and small towns; many of these communities set in small inlets surrounded by mangroves; the route also takes you over numerous large bridges beneath which are the tributaries of the Mekong. The scale of the delta region is quite something.
I have heard that people have deliberately avoided Vietnam because of a certain reputation it is supposed to have. Having been in this country for only 5 days (not long I grant you to form a conclusive opinion) from my experience so far, I would like to dispel all the negatives about this place. The people are equally as friendly as any I have met in South East Asia; maybe not as vociferous as their Cambodian neighbours (but then no one would be on that scale). I still get all the smiles, acknowledgements, the mick taken out of me and scooters coming alongside chatting and patting me on the back. Without question, the key is the way I am travelling. I'm not criticising backpackers, only a handful of years ago I backpacked through Australia, New Zealand and South America for the best part of a year and loved the experience. To some extent though, when you are reliant upon buses, trains etc to get you from place A to place B, you do isolate yourself from much of what is going on around you. That's not to say that when you arrive that you don't make the effort to integrate with the locals, which of course a lot of backpackers do. The difference is that on a bike, you integrate every minute of your whole journey and for me this is the most enjoyable part of the journey. I have no desire to see any more markets or religious icons, but to experience the day to day life of the people with whom you are sharing this brief experience is to my mind the most valuable and satisfying. There is a huge curiosity factor when I pull in to a street cafe for a drink; it is quite normal to sit with them at their request and chat, usually in sign language. Cynthia is a major curiosity in her own right (so rightly named if you know my ex-mother in law!), she attracts a group wherever she is parked up. When in Dubai I purchased a klaxon and I always know when I go in a shop or somewhere for advice, that someone will squeeze the klaxon; they love it. I always hear it everytime and when I come out I am met with wide grins. I can give you two instances so far where the locals have gone beyond the call of duty to help this idiot Englishman. On one occasion, a young girl who I had asked directions, got on her scooter and rode to where I needed to turn off (probably darn glad to get shot of me!). The second time was in Sa Dec, where I had just arrived and asked a feller and his son about accommodation for the night. No worries, they got on their scooter and again rode in front taking me to a superb hotel where the staff where unbelievably kind.
So what of Vietnam? Well one of the advantages of cycling is that you get a flavour of the people, the place and the driving conditions. The first two I have covered in the above paragraph, now to the real fun part. As you will observe from an atlas, Vietnam is thin and linear in shape; its not that big an area, but large enough to accommodate 90 million people. Given the topography, including the mountain region further north, then there is only so much room for these people to live and consequently, they congregate along the roads and water courses. Vietnam has a population that is some 6 times the size of Cambodia, so cycling through the Delta, pretty well every village or town is linked to the next to form a continuous urban scape along every road. The villages are bustling, always something going on and its clear that Vietnam is a wealthier country than Cambodia; there are a lot of building and construction projects in progress, notably bridges. Now to the traffic. Commensurate with the size of population their are millions of scooters, simply an unbelievable number. Having cycled for a few days I am now fully seized with traffic methodology. For a start, its absolutely fine to proceed against the traffic flow, and at all times, traffic entering the road from the left do so without sight or forthought, they just do it. In order to develop a successful technique, the key word is 'weaving'. Never stop whether you are on a bike, scooter or vehicle or a pedestrian; keep going in a deliberate manner and all traffic will weave in and out of you. The first couple of times, it is quite nerve wracking, but you get used to it. Another rule of the road is that it is quite ok to go round a roundabout the wrong way. This is great since your survival rate increases by missing out junctions to get to the one you want. The noise is deafening, everyone, but everyone seems to have the horn on non stop. I have to say though that the locals clearly recognising a foreigner when they see one, very often 'shelter' you by letting you come alongside and protecting you; they also are very respectful, well most are, so once you know whats likely to happen, its not too bad. Cycling into Saigon was not as bad as London, Istanbul or even Bangkok.
I shall be in Saigon for a couple of days only; its expensive and a typical big city. Big it is, having a population of 8 million; that's about the size of Bangkok. You are advised to stay in Districts 1,3 and 5 which is the modern downtown core, with all the fancy hotels and highrise offices. Its worth being here to see the traffic, strangely there are no tuk tuks here. From here its a cycle ride along Highway 1 to Da Nang and north. Highway 1 is a poorly maintained road, barely the equivalent of an average A road in England, more like a B road in many places. Have found a diner style restaurant just around the corner from where I am staying which is great to bulk up. For the last few days I have been living on street food which in some cases doesn't hang around too long in the digestive tract! Not sure when the next blog will be, probably Ha Long Bay. Cheers for now, time for a little exploring.
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