Day 20: Tue 27 Nov - Takeo, Cambodia to Chau Doc, Vietnam

Ride: 80km; total: 1,004km

DAY 18: Takeo-Chau Doc (78km) Early breakfast. Fill in water and check visa for Vietnam one more time as Vietnam visa has to be done in advance. Cycle 53km to Phnom Den border crossing point. Take a break in half way for water stop. After immigration, say goodbye to our Cambodian driver. Lunch at the local restaurant at the border. After lunch, cycle to discover along the Mekong Delta road into the beautiful green countryside. Along the way you will see rice fields and water buffalos nearby the road. Arrive in Chau Doc, those with energy to spare can climb Sam Mountain for sunset! Dinner and overnight in Chau Doc. (B,L,D) 

Early rise as usual and had a bit of a wander around the area.  Lots of guest houses but just for the locals I'd guess as there's not much to see here.  I did see some lovely old mansions from the French era.  

Scheduled to leave at 7am for our breaky stop and for a change everyone was ready.   Breaky was at the Cool Restaurant a sort of Asian McDonalds in the city.  Breakfast was individually ordered and consisted of two fried eggs and a shared omelette with Kev.  Not quite up to the standard, but ok. 

Out onto the hwy and apart from a couple of drink stops we rode fairly fast all the way to the Vietnamese border.  It took about an hour to do all the paperwork at both sides of the border.   At the Vietnamese side the official asked for US$1 each from everyone (although we’d all pre-paid our visas) but when we challenged him he gave the money back to the first few people who had paid him.  I suspect he could see we were no pushover, we complained loudly about having to pay it, demanding an official receipt and saying we would report him to his boss.    

Another 25km through very interesting villages (in and along the Mekong Delta) followed until we reached our hotel, Ha Long.  Another nice place and well above the standard I was expecting.  

Went for a wander down town and found a lot of shops selling dried seafood with a sort of sugary glaze over it, a local speciality.  A very interesting city.  Dinner was at the motel as the city would not have catered for us Europeans.

Drying their rice on both sides of the road 

Only in Indochina would a small motorcycle carry such a large load 

A Cambodian bus; passengers sit along each side, the front and on the floor

A local speciality, dried fish with a glaze poured over it. Smelt very fishy.

A very old rickshaw setup in Chau Doc

Water lily stems and flowers used as a vegetable