Cycle Long Xuyen to Can Tho 11 Feb 2016

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  We start with a ferry out of the "big city" Long Xuyen eastbound. Dan is wearing his Captain America shirt again today :-) Ferry is packed. This is the same ferry we came into town on last night, so again 4-5 ferries working this route at the same time. That ferry has an ambulance up front. No bridge so ferry is the only way to the hospital in the big city of Long Xuyen. After some biking, we stop at a hat factory.

 
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  Win shows us the reeds that are used. The reeds are dried anywhere that is flat and in the sun, including in the street. And a rooster next to the drying fronds. We've seen a lot of these small cages for cock fighting. Describing the weaving process. This one needs the edges finished.

 
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  The inside of a nearly complete hat. Then all loose and rough parts are clipped smooth. The red loops on the inside allow you to thread a sash through to tie the hat on, under your chin. Finished hats, ready for decorating. Stacks and stacks of hats inside. A good worker can make maybe 12 hats a day.

 
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  Stopped for pictures at the top of a bridge crossing a canal. Lots of boats on these canals. Going through another small town, we stop at a market. Vendors selling all kinds of foods. The markets here take over and consume the road.

 
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  Hats just like we just saw being made. Many different varieties of rice. Anything and everything for sale. A few empty spots because of Chinese New Year holidays but most booths are being used. Corn and bananas, but what are the red things?

 
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  eggplant, cucumbers, beets?, ??, string beans, baby corn, lettuce. About all I recognize is baby bok choy and green onions. Live fish for sale, swimming around. This pretty fish seller saw me taking a picture, grabbed a live fish that was flopping, and held it up and yelled something like "Facebook" with a huge big smile! Wish my photo was better because she had a pretty smile that I missed in this photo. Interestng inflatable toys.

 
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  More different varieties of rice. And more. And still more. And eggs. Lots and lots of eggs. At another rest break, more CNY dragons and drums going by.

 
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  They're on the other side of the canal from us. Lots of trash in this canal :-( Most canals are clean but this area is a dead-end with no flowing water. After more biking, we stop to see... Ducks! a whole flock of them. In this area ducks are more popular then chicken.

 
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  Dan puts his helmet-cam inside the pen to video them running around. These are destined to be egg layers, not dinner. Typical small boat in many canals, with steps down to its mooring. More red chili plants growing these hot babies.

 
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  Lots of chili plants with rice fields beyond. Back to the ducks. They're so cute! We quite enjoyed watching the ducks.

 
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  Win and Richard. After more biking, we stop at a mat-making machine. Machine has bobbins of threads for the long direction, while colored reeds are being fed in to get woven through. Kinda like a semi-automated loom where the shuttle goes back and forth pulling a new reed through every second or so. The lady working the machine feeds in the reeds one by one, choosing reeds of one color, then a couple of another color.

 
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  The machine is old and very dusty but mechanically sound. the horizontal wheel controls the "shuttle" that moves to the worker, grabs a reed and weaves it through the white threads, then moves back to the worker to grab another reed. Mechanically pretty neat! the empty section of the mat is what happens if the machine is left running, auto-advancing the bobbin threads, with no reeds being fed in :-(

 
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  After another ride, we stop at a place making rice paper. The rice paper is barely visible, circles drying on the reed mats. Just a small color change to see the circles of rice paper drying on the mats. Cleaning the mats from the previous dried paper before putting on new ones to dry. Stacks of dried rice paper circles. Often used for wrapping spring rolls, these particular ones are sweeter with sesame seeds, used for wrapping desserts. Close-up of one drying, sesame seeds are visible.

 
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  The red bowl contains the soupy-mixture. A small amount is spread under the bamboo lid on the cooker, cooked just the right amount of time. Then the lid is lifted (see steam rising) and the roller is next. Roller is used to pick up the cooked circle of rice paper and handed to the other worker. The second worker unrolls the paper onto the reed mat to dry. Roller is handed back and the cycle continues. Rice hulls (pile of light brown in the foreground) are burned for the fire under the cooker.

 
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  A local guy is amazed by Dan's muscles. Rows of mats with drying rice paper. At lunch, a truck full of ducks goes by. Pool tables are common here. Great lunch of authentic Vietnamese noodles for Bob

 
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  And beef Pho soup for Sue. Add bean sprouts, basil leaves, and veggies as desired to the Pho soup. Yummy! Also here, an internet cafe, and computer gaming! Bob recognized several games including World of Warcraft and Starcraft. They were gaming as a group. It was very social for them.

 
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  Vietnam was well connected to the Internet. End of the bicycling in Vietnam :-( It is beer celebration time! Selfie :-) Nam's bike got hacked! At the last break, someone tried to steal his front wheel by removing the axle.

 
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  He had to ride the last 10k with the tire not secured. Nam's a great cyclist so he did it with no issues. The brake calipers are what prevented the thieves from taking the tire. All the other bikes have disk brakes. On the last boat ride to the hotel in Can Tho.

 
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  All of us on the boat. Typical houses on stilts on the canal. Lots of people live and work here. Typical dock side houses.

 
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  Cool boats. Our boat driver. Even here, yellow flowers for good luck. Texting while boat driving. Everyone has a smart phone. Woman in classic attire pulling in a fishing net. This scene could have been more than a hundred years ago. Our boat.

 
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  Another Victoria Hotel (very nice hotel!) Nice pool. Joelle with the cooling cloth over her face :-) Ole tries it too :-)

 
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  View from our hotel balcony. Gorgeous hotel grounds, river just beyond the trees. 47 miles today, about 70km. Map of today's ride. Last bit was on a boat (in the river).

 
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  Elevation gain / loss. 3 feet. :-)

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