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Friday, October 23

Mekong Delta 2 day cycling tour

A bit of action in the program: cycling through the Mekong delta.
The Mekong is allegedly the largest river of Asia, it passes 6 countries and ends in South Vietnam where the Mekong delta is. It is a watery, green and fertile environment with a high population density.
I have joined a 2-day cycling tour through the region. Our group of 6 is made up by 6 different nationalities, but luckily the standard interface English is implemented in all participants.There is not much to tell, I’ll attach a few of the thousand photos I took to give you an impression. I hope you enjoy the ride, I sure did.

Undeniable evidence of this post title


A fair share of South East Asia’s rice comes from the Delta
Some of which stays right here.


Locals are very friendly, most of them wave and greet us when we pas.
And the kiddies are sooo cute


Excellent scenery


More excellent scenery


Excellent lunch



There are several floating markets around here where all the farmers get what they need. This started long ago before there were any decent roads.



And surprise surprise, it’s the women that do the shopping


Because we are not dressed like tourists nobody notices our boat.


Dinner is being prepared for fish lovers


And for meat lovers


The locals drink snake wine for their health (and entertainment). You put strong rice wine in a big jar, you find a poisonous snake and add the two together. The snake being trapped in a jar of rice wine is getting pretty pissed off, as you can imagine (besides Ward perhaps). So instinctively it starts releasing poison. This mixes with the rice wine, et voila, you have a delicious snake wine that guards you from illness and you get drunk as a bonus.
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Q: Why don’t you die on the spot of the poison?
A: Because the poison does not come in the bloodstream when you drink it.
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*Bastards* thinks the snake


Having a glass of snake wine with a friendly local, who is 78 and says he never has even a cold thanks to the miracle drink


Vicky from Hong Kong fainted after she fell of her bike on the second day. The intensity of this trip was Tour de France level, no shit.


The long tail boat flows through the rivers arms back to the bus, and with sore bums we head back to Saigon.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Roland! I am amazed by your adventures in 'Nam'. Can u maybe bring some of the snake liquor or Venom booze to BKK? I have just conquered a Thai virus. True or not, I want to try it out myself. Love the blog, keep on writing the good stuff! Oh by the way, I quit the boiler room, it got to hot overthere. Still training by myself. Looking for a crazy greedy, rich person and hope to start teaching soon. Later! Paul

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  2. Hi there anonymous,

    Yes I also found Lizard wine, as you can read in my latest post (good for boom boom).
    Send me your email and I'll give you the details.

    Roland

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