On our 30th day in SE Asia we went for a bike ride! Our guide picked us up at the hotel and took us over to their shop to pick up our bikes. I probably should have had another cup of coffee before we started … we just picked out a couple of bikes, hopped on, and away we went with our guide. I never thought to check and see if he might have spare tubes, tools, or any other item we might need should there be a problem out in the middle of nowhere. Just in case you were wondering … we didn’t have any. Lol. I do carry extra medical supplies, etc … but in this instance, we should have had some extra tools.

The bikes were nice … Giant Talons. They even were about the right size. This picture is from the ferry going across the Mekong River. We started our ride on the other side, made our way through the countryside, and then came back across on another (smaller) ferry. From there we rode the main “highway” back to town. 
We shared the first ferry with a couple of cars, scooters, walkers, and even a rooster.

We made our way up the hill from the ferry and took a turn in the small town and were on the dirt roads through the country.


There was some traffic kicking up a little dust/dirt but wasn’t too bad. The traffic kind of tapered off when we arrived at the first small village — this place had about 50 families living there. Mostly farmers. We took a break here for our guide to stretch his legs.

He was having difficulty with the ride due to an old soccer injury. I wasn’t sure he would make it back to town, but he really stuck with it! We were trying to decide what to do — turn around and head back or keep going. He thought it would be easier to keep going (fewer hills). Didn’t really work out that way … haha.





Definitely not fewer hills … plus we had a couple of river crossings too.


We walked across the first one and decided to ride the next two — that’s what we were there for anyway!


After the first river crossing, my seat decided to relax. What I mean by that, it decided to tilt back and enjoy the ride. That really wasn’t great for me, but since we didn’t have any tools, I ended up riding standing up a lot the rest of the way back to town. Might as well get some more exercise! Haha.
Here we are on the second (slightly smaller) ferry.
We climbed up another hill from the ferry before continuing on… We passed a few interesting things on the way to town … blue and pink elephants — an inflatable man … and we rode with the scooters across the old “French” bridge back into town.


We capped it off with a lunch at the same restaurant Obama had some coconut milk. What is it with taking tourists to these places?

Oh well, it was a beautiful view down to the river …. great time!


Stumblingpiper
Read Full Post »