Monthly Archives January 2012
Firstly, happy birthday Maureen, Connie, Laura and Randy. Another great day on the bikes. We rode 95 km today and it was all flat. There are a few ways to go and we chose to ride along the canal. Once you get out of Chau Doc, you ride the road to Tinh Bien. At that town, don’t take the large bridge but rather ride under the bridge. If you keep the canal on your right and head south you will find your way.Read More
The things we saw were too numerous to mention.Read More
The real TET celebrations happen after the lunar New Year. We chose an assisted ride for 4 days through the Mekong Delta. This assisted ride is designed not to ride on the main highways. It was an amazing excursion. We decided to travel with Sinhbalo Travel adventures out of Saigon (www.sinhbalo.com). We had an amazing tour guide (Viet) and he knew the history of the delta and had lots of stories to tell. We spent 4 wonderful days with 4 new friends, Luce & Anook (from Amsterdam and Francine and Frank from Germany (although they both currently live in China.Read More
We found out when we first started our biking trip that the lunar new year in Vietnam was January 23rd and it was called TET. One of the big traditions is to travel back to your hometown to celebrate. For that reason it is not recommended that you cycle the main highways for about 1week before TET and 1week after TET.Read More
We took a cooking class in Saigon. It started in the market with our chef and she explained the origin of the fruits and vegetables. She also explained the culture around food.Read More
We decided to take the 6 hour bus to Saigon. The route was unclear and extemely busy (401 rush hour busy on the route for the last 100 kms). We came across a box of live chickens who were destined for the luggage rack of the bus. This local boy had fun with the birds. It didn’t look like the birds were having fun.Read More
We planned a short ride today, so left a little later in the morning. It covered about 40 km on highway 24. Of course the road was busy, but a relatively good paved road the whole way. We had lots of time for stops along the way. We stopped for breakfast at a roadside stand, expecting a fried chicken egg on a but. The stand owner provided the bun and a little cafe beside the stand cooked the eggs.Read More
This was an 80 km day with lots of downhill out of Da Lat. we spent hours cycling through coffee, tea, flower and silkworm farms. There were also lots of vegetable and fruit farms.
We started at 4,900 feet above sea level and ended at 3,100 Ft. We climbed about 1,200 feet throughout the day. We left the hotel at 6am to get an early start. We got caught in lots of am rush hour traffic to a local college (100′s of motor bikes). During the decent the traffic was light with a few large trucks and busses during the main decent. The pavement was excellent with little problems along the was.
The stops along the way were extremely pleasant, and again our bikes and us were a bit of an oddity to the locals...
Read MoreFrom Wikitravel
Dalat, also Da Lat (Đà Lạt), located in the South Central Highlands of Vietnam, was originally the playground of the French who built villas in the clear mountain air to escape the heat and humidity of the coast and of Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City.
Dalat looks like a cross between Vietnam and the French Alps. Many of its hotels and houses are built in a European/ French style. The city spreads across a series of pine-covered hills, with a small lake in the center and surrounded by a man made lake and higher peaks, making for some lovely scenery quite different from the rest of Vietnam. Temperatures are pleasantly warm by day, and quite cool at night, down to perhaps 10 degrees Celcius.
We found it an amazing city, cool at night but nice in the daytime...
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