January 23, 2026
Ho Chi Minh City to Tra Vinh.
169 km / 521 m elevation gain
I don’t know where to begin for today’s ride. I think I experienced some sensory overload.
I fell asleep at 6:30 pm and was wide awake at 4 am. I have to keep moving my bedtime back so I can awake at a normal time. I had a few instant coffees and decided that I’d try to leave very early to ‘beat’ some of the traffic chaos.
I turned on all my lights and started riding at 5:45 am (sunrise 6:15). It was still mostly dark but with city lights and my personal light it wasn’t an issue. Ho Chi Minh City is up early. I did really well navigating through the city. Some of the turns didn’t even seem possible. I rode down alleys that were 4 feet wide many times.
There were so many things going on it was all a bit overwhelming.
I want to make an author’s note that all my observations of Vietnam are all positive and I hope that if I comment on something negatively it’s balanced with positives.
Okay, the first positive. The older people here seem to know that you have to keep moving your body. I saw several classes outdoors in parks where 30-40 people were exercising. And I followed a man walking for a short bit and he was working his shoulders. It was so great to see! I also saw so many people on the ground weeding and also setting up markets (not young people either).
The riding through Ho Chi Minh City was really hectic but I felt safe. The reason it feels safe is people are only going 30-45 kph. The scooter in the main mode of transportation and because there are so many the cars give you a wide berth. In the city there weren’t many cars by comparison. And the scooters help you navigate as well as you can sort of hitch on the back of someone turning left as an example and follow their lead.
At one point I had to cross a 4 lane road with non stop scooters. I walked my bike but I just kept moving at a constant speed and they all move around you. It’s like parting the sea!
I rode through many markets in Saigon. The markets were so busy getting set up. There are butchers working just slashing meat into huge chunks that they just display at room temperature. That sort of blew me away. Then there are huge bowls of fish and some are still alive. I saw some beautiful fruit but I kept moving and I’ll have some another day.
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It was hard to know when one city ended and another one began. I thought I was through Saigon because I hit an industrial area and those are usually on the outskirts. But then suddenly a few kilometres later I’m riding through another bustling market. And these streets are tight. I’m dodging scooters both ways. Oh, the scooters. So many riding counter to traffic on the far side of the road. It’s so odd to have them coming right at you but again you adjust like all the traffic here. There’s no angry drivers from what I can tell. They all understand it’s hectic and seem to respect each other. It’s constant horns but they are use the right way (Hi I’m coming up behind you).
With the flat roads and pavement I was making good time. I think I covered 60 km by 9:30/10. I rode through some farmland with rice fields. I had a few navigation glitches. One path started fine but just disappeared. I tried another couple ways and ended up at people’s houses. I got some funny looks.
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I was powering down snacks and electrolytes. By 11 AM I was starting to think about lunch. It was hard to know when to stop as I saw 100’s of little food stands today. That might be an exaggeration but there are so many roadside places. And these aren’t sit down restaurants they are open air with the food made in front of you. You just sit on patio chairs.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit
The milky sap stains permanently. Don't get any on clothes! I have some things that are no longer "socially acceptable."
3 days ago
3 days ago
I saw a couple eating a noodle bowl so I stopped. I had some trouble communicating. I tried this translation device. I was using it in offline mode but it was completely wonky. I said “That was very good, thank you.” And it thought I said “Honey, I think I’ve outdone myself.”
I ended up just pointing at what the couple were eating and ended up eating some meat. I think this is just reality on this trip and I’m fine with it. The bill for the bowl was the equivalent of $1. Later in the day I had a couple sugary drinks and they ranged from $0.50 to $0.75. These would be $4 at home at a convenience place.
I had a lot of friendly interactions as I was riding through places. I heard a lot of ‘hello’. And I always smiled and returned the greeting.
By about 2 I decided I need to lock down my accommodations. I found a home stay place; its stand alone rooms and not in someone’s home ($22). I booked the place and grabbed the directions link and it opened Google Maps. Here there is no bike choice. The closet thing is scooter. I was starting to run low on energy and was not excited about riding the last 14 km but I hunkered down and kept moving on the flat pavement. I was excited as I made the final turn and I saw a building that could maybe be a home stay. Turned out to be someone’s house. The directions led me astray. I tried communicating and they were friendly.
I pulled over to contact the place thinking maybe I could WhatsApp them. Then a scooter pulls up beside me and says ‘follow me’ in broken English. I had no idea if she knew the place or was leading me to some other hotel. And I could not keep pace with her scooter so I pulled over and sat down on some gravel in front of a food stand.
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3 days ago
I wasn’t there for 3 minutes and all of a sudden there are 3 young people all trying to help me. I was touched. One spoke some English and one was the scooter lady who turned around. She was emphatic that she knew where to go but I wanted to talk to the place. We used there to phones and they helped immensely and eventually I got a link to my WhatsApp and it turns out the scooter lady was right but if she didn’t take me right there I still would have missed it. I thanked them all profusely feeling a huge sense of relief.
I got to the room and asked if there’s any food. They said we can do a fish fry for you and gave me 30 minutes to clean up. I arrived and the huge amount of food was on the table. I couldn’t eat it all and it cost less than $7. I had visits from a dog and a cat while eating.
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Oh! I forgot the crossing rivers fun. My route made on Ride With GPS had me arrive at a dock. It looked like it could possibly be a ferry landing but also it could be a working dock. There were about 5 men unloading some trucks onto a boat but it did not appear to be a ferry. I struggled some using the translation app (this time google’s version) and I guy told me to get directions for the bridge I could see in the distance.
I get to the bridge 7 km later and see a sign ‘no bikes’ but the traffic was light so I just went for it. This was a big crossing similar to the Fraser River back home. I then realized I had to do this 2 more times across other rivers. I ended up passing a police who was stopping trucks but thankfully he did not care about me. The other crossings allowed bikes but you ride over with a scooter/bike lane and it’s fine.
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All in all it was a wild day. I feel a lot more confident getting around. I’m a bit skeptical about accommodations directions now. I’m 50/50 now with success. And I won’t leave it any later.
Highlights:
-riding through normal everyday life and seeing so many new things
-people waving and smiling (kids on back of scooters saying hi)
-finding accommodations eventually
-huge ride for my first day and riding very little ahead of this trip
-eating like a local
Today's ride: 169 km (105 miles)
Total: 169 km (105 miles)
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