day 70 - Tân Ky to Duc Tho

Thursday, 2 January 2014

We decided to get up a little earlier this morning to see if we could find some good street food in the town. We wandered into the main street in a blanket of morning mist and made our way to the market to see what was on offer. Many of the stallholders were very friendly, some even offering us to come and sit by their fire but we kept moving in search of something to eat. 

(Tân Ky's fresh food market)

(This woman was taking great care with the presentation of her fish)

Back on the main road, we saw three women with food carts positioned at an intersection. There were lots of locals pulling up on their motorbikes to buy food from the women so we decided to approach one lady and see what she was selling. We were given a fresh bread roll stuffed with pickled vegetables, omelette, pork and sauce and a container of rice with the same toppings, for the equivalent of $1. The food was fresh and delicious but as we wandered back to the hotel, we noticed a little restaurant serving noodle soup that was also very popular with locals so we decided to try their soup too. We walked into the restaurant and the place erupted in laughter, but we don’t think there was any offence intended and thankfully the family who ran the place looked after us very well. 

(The food cart from where we bought some breakfast)

(The rice dish we bought from the food cart)

We set off from the hotel around 9am, just as the mist was clearing. We took the road south towards a town called Do Luong where we passed lots of farmers ploughing their fields. It looked like incredibly hard work and we wondered if they would continue in the heat of the afternoon sun. It felt at times like we were looking through a window into the past, as oxen and water buffalos pulled wooden ploughs and farmers bent double using hoes and other tools to work the land. 

(Farmers at work)

(A cooper making barrels. We were told that in Australia there are only a few people left with this skill. 

Great to see someone here practising this craft)

(The huge Sông Lam River)

The road to Duc Tho was largely flat the whole way which made for a really enjoyable ride. We passed a few groups of school children, some of who would follow us for a while before turning back. Nicky was accompanied for a couple of kilometres by a friendly 16 year old girl who was on an electric bike. Later, we were joined by two teenage boys on a scooter who were keen to have their photo taken. 

In the afternoon, we stopped in a shady spot for some snacks where we met a woman called My (pronounced Mee). My pulled up on her bike on the opposite side of the road and started talking to us in Vietnamese. When we indicated that we couldn’t understand, she began to speak English. We talked a little about the weather, where we were going, that she works as a farmer and then how she had such good English. She explained that her daughter is teaching her.  She was a lovely woman and we were glad she stopped to talk to us.

(Nicky and My)

We arrived in Duc Tho late in the afternoon. It appeared to be a very large town but we were unable to find a hotel or even a guesthouse. We asked a few locals who all pointed us in the same direction where we eventually found a restaurant with a guesthouse above on the way out of town. We had covered 105km by that point so we were happy to find somewhere for the night. The young woman that greeted us was friendly and we were shown a simple room that would be fine for the night. We had a very tasty meal in the restaurant and will surely sleep well tonight after all the sunshine and another good day's riding.