My Tho to Tra Vinh

Friday December 1, 2017, 45 miles (72 km) - Total so far: 2,227 miles

(3,584 km)

Today started badly, with a fairly long stretch on the busy QL60, which appears to have a building site running alongside it for a fair few Ks. It probably wasn't so bad really, but I wasn't mentally prepared for a busy ride! We took a side trip to Ben Tre where we found a great coffee place which made me feel a lot better. Ed was relieved.

We diverted off the QL 60 for a few Ks which was a real treat. Lots of coconut 'processing plants' - all done by hand of course, and some really rural roads. Not sure many cycle tourists go this way and, to be honest, we did get a bit lost!!

Back on the QL60, and fortunately it was a lot quieter. We popped into one of the many 'chay' vegetarian restaurants for lunch - what a lovely place. Such a sweet family and excellent food (hu tien again!). We thought we'd skip the big bridge in favour of a ferry, but the road to said ferry looked like dirt, so we took the bridge as the safe option. Once over, we turned left by the toll booth(?) and left the QL60 once again. A lovely ride. We skipped the bridge that would take us to Tra Vinh in favour of a ferry...which was great, but it won't be there for long as they are building another bridge!!

Our route today:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1297506562
Based on:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?page_id=495047 (thank you!)

We had a huge faff finding a hotel. The place recommended by Travelfish is marked incorrectly on Google, and we also couldn't find it based on Travelfish's description. Maybe it has changed its name. We checked out their second best option, but it was pretty old and tatty. We had cockroaches last night, so I was particularly keen to avoid them! So we headed to the Gia Hoa hotel, which receives a decent rating on booking.com (these ratings appear on maps.me). They did check that we were 'overnight' guests which worried us....but it's pretty nice, with a bathtub albeit no hot water, and the bikes are inside. But....there's a cockroach behind the curtain. Clearly I need to get over this!

We headed out to yet another veggie place for veggie 'com', followed by drinks at a nice coffee bar. We spent £2 on two meals for two people today! Tra Vinh is a bustling little place, although they do seem to be digging up half of the road, which is irksome for the tired cyclist.... Loads of restaurants, bakeries and small shops - everything you need.

Longer day to Can Tho tomorrow and somehow we're on the beers!