Biking Vietnam: Leaving Phnom Penh we rode south along Highway 2 to the town of Takeo and on to the remote border of Phnom Den, Cambodia / Tinh Bien, Vietnam. It's remote but lively with lots of goods coming and going. Immediately once we crossed the border the difference was noticable. People everywhere. Cambodia has 14 million people, Vietnam has 90 million. The roads are action central and we headed into the Mekong Delta to bike and experience life on the river. Here's a few pics and comments.

Along the highway in Cambodia there is rice drying in the sun. This went on for kilometer after kilometer. All the traffic sort of keeps to the centre - both ways, except when passing. Luckily it's not a really busy road by Cambodia standards so the rice is not disturbed too much.



The people sweep up the rice once dried and fill the bags. Even children work at this and it looks like it's back breaking



Trucks come along and collect the bags of rice. There are scales on the ground that they use to weigh the bags.



The bags of rice are loaded onto boats from the trucks. This is still Cambodia.



A rice barge on the Mekong river, Vietman filled to the brim.



Thai cat, not to be confused with Ti Cat (bad CFL joke for those in the know)

Actually he was in Cambodia and I miss my kitties.

My trusty steed which I had to give up at the border for Vietnam bikes. For some reason we could not take these over the border.



We waited forever at the Vietnam border to have the paperwork processed. Guess the Communists want to make sure they don't let in any troublemakers.




So while we waited I started to take photos of the scooters crossing the border from Vietnam to Cambodia. I could not believe what they tied to these bikes. None of the bikes were bigger than 125cc. Later in the trip I saw livestock, full size refridgerators, doors and windows for houses, huge mirrors, entire families, riding on these bikes which have replaced the bicycle over the last 10 years.




Click on the photo to enlarge it and see what he is carrying.

 


It just gets better and better.

 


I had too much time to kill.




Honestly it was a never ending stream.




This bike was incredible.

(Al our tour leader finally has the paperwork complete.

So we're off into Vietnam. )




Dyed grass reeds drying in the sun on the road. Later they will be woven into mats for family homes. People use the mats to sleep on.





A view of life on the Mekong River. We're on a boat making a crossing from one island to another.




More Mekong action.




We stayed at the home of a Vietnamese family. "Home Stays" are popular around this area. Lots of tourists come to the Mekong area.




So, ummm... this is a cage of rats raised for food.




This was one of the sons at the home stay cooking rat for our dinner. \

"Tastes like chicken!"



The lady of the house cooking fish for us.




Family patriarch presenting cooked fish. Note the little fisherman carved from cucumber sitting on the fish's head. Very creative! Fish was very tasty.




Snakes raised for food. We did not have to eat snake at the home stay.

Probably tastes like chicken anyway.




This is one way to remove feathers from dead fowl.




End of the trip. We are about 50 kms from Ho Chi Minh city (aka Saigon). The traffic was getting too crazy so we said good-bye to the bikes and headed into town on a bus.




Tired, hot but happy cyclists. We biked just over 500 kms through the three countries - Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was a fantastic trip. I would recommend it. Great way to see the country, people, get off the beaten path plus slim the thighs and improve one's cardio.




Ho Chi Minh is scooter city and everyone wears a helmet and they have fantastic looking helmets.





Had to get one. Actually I bought two. Perhaps will use for cycling at home.


At the end of the biking trip most everyone headed home. A few stayed on to travel on their own and I was one of them. I decided to stay in Vietnam and see more of the country. So next blog entry will tell you of my adventures alone in Vietnam. Thanks for reading.