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	Today we bicycle hotel to hotel, no van or boat transfer. This is the first biking day in Vietnam so we start with bike fitting on the new-to-us bikes.	Ole adjusts his seat height.	All these bikes have higher handlebars which we all loved. Otherwise they're very similar to the Cambodia bikes.	Nam our Vietnam bike mechanic replaces a complete shift system. He's very quick!	Sue's bike's kickstand was dragging on the brake disk so that got adjusted.

	We have both a van on the right for personnel transport, and truck on the left for hauling bikes and luggage. No trailers in Vietnam.	Dan	Helmet-cam ready to go.	We start out in light traffic getting out of the city.	Drummer for Chinese New Year.

	We stop for photos of the drummer and all the kids crowd around Dan, posing with him.			Dan is wearing his muscle shirt after all :-)	After another short ride, we stop to see the house decorations for Tet and Chinese New Year (usually the same day).

	Notice the house has a tile entryway and ramp up to the green interior tile floor (shoes are left outside). Contrast with Cambodia - dirt entryway and wood floor.	Gold and yellow colored flowers are used to decorate - belief that the color of gold will bring wealth in the next year.	Same for the lemon/lime bushes, trees with yellow flowers, and yellow curtains. Three curtained alcoves match 3 doorways, 3 is a lucky number.	Gorgeous decorations.

	Then bike to the next ferry. Another ferry approaching.	Lots of ferries and bridges!		Little roadside store next to the ferry entrance.	Win, Dan, Sue, Bob on the ferry.

	Next ferry docking as our ferry heads out.	Mix of scooters and bicycles on the ferry, cars are rare here in the countryside.	Again multiple ferries on this crossing.	Huge line waiting to get on the ferry as we are getting off.	Bridge is out. We divert to the right to take a "temporary" bicycle bridge over.

	Bridg pylons are still there. But no bridge.	Concrete pilings of what used to be a large bridge.	The vast majority of the bridges look like this - since cars are VERY expensive in Vietnam there aren't many cars outside the big cities, so there aren't many car bridges either.	We're going to bicycle across like a hundred of these bridges today and tomorrow. Have to be good at down-shifting else you get stuck halfway up!	We skip this east-bound bridge and continue south, just a quick stop for pictures.

	Pause for a water break and photos.	All the houses are flying the flag of Vietnam. We asked about that and it's compulsory during Tet. Else you get fined.		This narrow and patched together bridge is typical.	Often little warning on these bridges so we all got a lot bettter at downshifting.

	Or sometimes we just walked the bikes over when the person ahead missed shifting and clogged up the crossing.	Rice fields (irrigated and growing) as far as the eye can see.	Fun!	Really, we're going to cross like a hundred of these bridges.	We stop for bathroom break and more photos. Typical gas station, with flush toilets!

	Everthing here is irrigated, with rice and other crops growing. Compared to dry fields in Cambodia, Vietnam is prosperous in agriculture.	String beans here, then further out all rice.		Water everywhere from the irrigation canals.	Another fruit break!! Watermelon, star fruit, mango, and crackers.

	Yummy and great for the thirst we have built up!	The peanut filling is tasty but the wafer - beware as we all thought this was like a composite construction material.	The peanut filling turns into dental adhesive. The wafer combination is strong like construction plywood.	Bob loves the mango.	The other Grasshopper group has their fruit break here too!

	The two groups keep leap-frogging each other.		For Annie	For Annie	Riding on nearly all paved roads here in Vietnam. Every house has a flag up, and yellow flowers for good luck.

	Bob's typical view from the rear, he likes to be "sheep-dog" at the end. Riding and taking photos at the same time.	Water break and more photos.	Not sure what these plants are?		Smooth dirt trail we're on. Typical of the country roads we rode.

	Irrigation everywhere.	Field of chili peppers.	Red and quite hot!	Next ferry boat with an engine and rudder the captain just man-handled around to steer.	Long arm out to the propeller so lots of leverage.

	Note the t-shirt the boat captain is wearing.		vertical blue bar is the rudder steering.

	Lookit all those antennas!	Ferry access road. Feels like a tiny back alley.	Flags everywhere in this small town.	Flags and more flags.	Monkey bridge! You have to be agile like a monkey to get across.

	Win offers to show us how it's done, Bob follows. Notice the path down is still well-used.	Ole follows too.			Bob is on the other side of the bridge photographing Lisa and Morten crossing.

	Everyone else stayed on safe ground.	Over half our group made it over!	and back, no one fell into the canal.	Ole has a big grin.	When there's a big celebration and the village runs out of room, they just expand into the road. We squeezed past many of these!

	The group saw me taking their picture and all were hamming it up for the photo with big grins on their faces.	A tiny cafe on the road	With Free Wifi!	Cell towers, probably the wifi source, right next door.	The road (just barely wide enough for one car) follows the canal twists and turns.

	Motor bike repair shop.	Boats in the canals all were well maintained.	Each boat was also someones home.	A typical gas station.	Did we mention lots of small bridges to cross?

	All sorts of boats in the canals.	Another bridge. Charming!	Flags everywhere in the small towns, criss-crossing the roads.	Big full sized tractors here	Landscaped farm with big tractors

	Here and there are graves in the fields	Farm workers doing manual labor with classic chinese hats.	Many (most?) motor bike riders wore colorful masks.	big boats on the canal	We walk the bikes up steps here.

	Next fruit break.	There is something about kitch being popular everywhere.	Safety glasses on the deer :-)	More kitch in the lawn water effect.	Almost didn't fit on this ferry.

	Nam and Bob are barely fitting out on the ramp. But they didn't even bother to bring their ramp out of the water for the very short crossing.		Two ferrys work that very short crossing.	Off the ferry cycling through the next town.	Everywhere we rode the little kids would run out and yell Hello and want to slap our hands. We were their entertainment :-)

	Next stop - a brick factory.	This is a new kiln being built - over a hundred feet long. They use rice husks for fuel.	Inside the kiln. Walls and ceiling are a foot or more thick.	Roof is still being completed. When it's done this brick factory will be able to make bricks with only a 3 hour fire (cook) time. Previous kiln was a month fire time!	Out back, where they stack the fired bricks.

	Another delicious fruit break! Mandarin oranges, watermelon, sticky ride wrapped in pandan leaves and crackers, dragon fruit, more mandarins.	Ole demonstrates how as kids they peeled their oranges - to make an elephant eyes and trunk!	Interesting electrical wiring. No "code" here like in the US.	Just like in Cambodia, wiring is kinda random.	On the next ferry - with a bus!

	Ferry is huge - middle is about 4 cars wide, then on the sides (like here) a narrower area is reserved for scooters and bicycles.	Scooters and bikes also pack in around the cars.	Cute dog on the scooter. By the mannerisms the owner loved his dog.	Huge ferry, and there were at least 5 ferries this size working this crossing and maybe more. The dock could handle three simultaneously.	We moved a little to get out of the hot exhaust of the bus (cuz of course the bus kept running while on the ferry to keep the air-con going for its passengers).

	Hotel in Long Xuyen - we lucked out and got a suite - notice the door behind Bob connecting to the next room.	In front of the bed the desk and TV. Only downside of this hotel was a lack of electrical outlets.	In the other room, a sofa and loveseat and another desk. Also a full second bathroom with shower.	And an awesome balcony with a gorgeous view.	View of the city of Long Xuyen from our hotel.

	Looking down at the street, on the left notice the exercise equpment. There were kids and adults on the exercise equipment at all times of the day.	Nearly every park area in Vietnam cities has exercise equipment like this.	And complimentary fruit and bottles of water. Grasshopper has always given us 3 star to 5 star hotels!	SPOT track today. Must have been under trees for a bit in the part with no hits. About 70km today.	Large statues in all Vietnam towns (this is communist).

	Decorations everywhere for Tet and Chinese New Year.	Concert drew our attention as we walked from dinner back to the hotel.	Seats for drinks while watching the concert.	Concert going on downtown.	Different singers, good music but _way_ too loud.

	Inscription on statue.	Looking down on the party scene from hotel window.

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