We had a weeny bit of a lie in this morning, with breakfast at 630am to be ready for 730am start. I slept so well last night and only woke up just before the alarm went off.

Our first stop was literally just down the road from the hotel. It was the Bah Om lake. There is a bit of a story behind this lake which Trong our guide told us. Basically, the women in Tra Vinh were the more powerful gender and they were the ones who proposed to the men. At some point there was a debate as to whether this should continue. To settle the matter the men and the women had to each dig a lake in one night. The men dug quicker but then the women distracted the men with their singing and dancing. And they also very cleverly hung a light from a tree so the men though the sun was coming up and they had to stop working. So basically the women won and this was their lake.

We then cycled around 3km to a Khmer temple, a form of Buddhism. Apparently there are two types of Buddhism in Vietnam and Khmer is practised in a small part of South Vietnam. The temple was amazing and very ornate.

The first water stop was by a place where they made rice wine. It was a quick stop, I didn’t bother using the toilet here as apparently it was over a slippery bridge and I didn’t want to risk falling in!

It rained quite a lot in the morning which made some of the paths quite treacherous. Sherrien came off her bike round one corner and just before we stopped for lunch I came off my bike. I was coming over a bridge, going downhill and turning left when I skidded and I went over on my left side. Luckily I just scrapped my shoulder and my knees and my chin – no permanent damage but it was quite scary as it happened so quickly. Ian, out guide made sure I was ok and Jane, the doc, put some iodine on the wounds which stung quite a lot. And then it was onwards to lunch.

The food here is amazing, so fresh and really tasty. And way too much of it.

After lunch we cycled over a mixture of road and tracks as well as three ferry crossings. The first one was a very short crossing, the second and third ones were slightly longer across to an island and then back off at the other end. The ferry looked quite rickety but they got us across safely.

The island itself was beautiful, full of vegetation but the tracks were quite narrow in places so it was single file only and lots of communication between the group – bike up, bike back, bridge! Despite that, a few of us missed a turning off to the ferry port so ended up cycling a bit further than we had to before one of the guides noticed and came to fetch us.

After the last ferry ride we then rode into the city of Can Tho and that was certainly an experience. It was a matter of standing your ground and just going for it because if you hesitated a moped or car would just pull in front of you. I really wish I could’ve filmed it because it was absolute chaos. But everyone is driving really slowly so althougb accidents do happen a lot but nobody gets hurt to badly.

In the evening we walked along the riverfront to a restaurant, past a statue of Ho Chi Minh.

The restaurant was right on the river so we could see the cruise ship go past.

The food, as always, was excellent and we tried some of the Vietnamese red wine. It was served cold but soon warmed up and actually tasted ok.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went up to the sky bar for a much needed g&t!

And then it was off to bed for a much needed sleep before another early start tomorrow.

Today we cycled around 98km.