Today we were up at 530am and ready to set off at 7am. It was a different start to the day as we actually walked along the river down to the boats. As a group we boarded two of the boats and headed down the river (Mekong delta) to the floating markets.

The waterways are still used as one of the main ways of transportation in Vietnam, although obviously roads are now used too but it is only in recent years that they have built the bridges. One of the bridges was only built in the 1970s and unfortunately it collapsed when it was bring built and killed 50 people.

We travelled around 7km up river to the floating markets. These were still quite busy although the busiest time is much earlier when they open around 5am.

The sellers show what they are selling by tying the product to a bamboo stick and this sticks up from the boat so as a buyer you know where to go. As well as the floating market, other small boats come up to you and sell food and drink. Adam and Jeremy decided to have a beer!

Once back on dry land we then got a chance to look round one of the local street markets. It was really colourful, and in some places quite smelly.

The bowl of black things in the photo on the bottom.right were snails, and they were still alive and moving around. It was really interesting seeing all the different fruits, I couldn’t tell you what half of them were.

After the wander round the market it was back on the bikes and off to Sa Dec. Most of the morning we were on fairly decent terrain. I took this photo at one of our morning water stops. All along the way the children were really excited to see us and they all wave and say hello. We obviously all wave back and shout hello too.

Lunch was at a cafe and as always the food was delicious.

The weather is hot and humid, around 32 degrees during the day and as soon as you start pedalling you sweat – in fact it’s actually nice being on a bike as you get a bit of a breeze. It does rain quite a bit too and it can be quite heavy.

After lunch we cycled upstream along the river to Long Xuyen. At one of the afternoon water stops it poured down.

Towards the end of the day we visited a bird sanctuary where the people have created a habitat for egrets. There were loads of them around, but only on the one side. There was a really ugly bird too, a bit like a stork, in a cage as you came down the stairs. He apparently is very vicious.

As we left the bird sanctuary we talked to a couple of the children – I say talked but it was a lot of using hands and smiles!

It was then a short cycle to the coach which took us to our hotel for the night.

We had dinner in the hotel, and a couple of drinks too! More Vietnamese red wine.

Today we cycled 75km.