I liked Saigon better than I had expected to, but left this morning and will not be returning, at least not on this trip. We took a speed boat down the Saigon River to Vung Tau, the closest beach resort. Then we rode along the beach road and through small villages with one detour to a war memorial at the top of a hill. The roads are almost empty of traffic and I sometimes miss my "push bike," but we could never cover this much ground on a bike.
Fortunately, the roads here are even emptier than the ones we biked on the last two weeks. Although the bikes are automatic, I started out with two gears - slow and slower. But I had to speed up to keep up with the group and by the afternoon, I was riding comfortably. My speedometer does not work which is really good; I don't really want to know how fast I am going or I would have to slow down. The throttle is very responsive. When you throttle back, the bike practically stops. Except on downhills, the bike does not have much forward momentum, so I barely need the brakes. This might be fun.
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| The tallest Jesus in Vietnam with our support vehicle in the foreground. |
The main guide, Chien, speaks English well and is quite knowledgeable, while our lead driver, Huy, is the group clown. He is also an accomplished chef and is in charge of our food. Besides riding, they feed us well and a lot. They take us to places I never could or would find on my own and just order food for us. I am (for the most part) eating what they put in front of me. For the first time, I feel like I am eating real Vietnamese food, not what they serve to Americans in restaurants. Today our guides brought and set up a picnic lunch of noodles, meat, salad, and various sauces, and prepared bowls for us. There are several sauces and each dish uses a specific one. Chien and Huy tell us what to eat and how to eat it.
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| Jumping chickens and snakes from the seafood restuarant. |
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| More seafood |
And besides riding and great food, we are staying in really nice hotels. This is the view from patio of my bungalow at the Lazi Beach Resort.
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