Bac Lieu to Ca Mau

January 25, 2026

Last night brought me back to our 11th day on the Great Divide. I got ready to shower and realized I had a saddle sore. Thoughts jumped to my trip may be over but I wrestled those thoughts and set a plan. I cleaned and sterilized and made a list for the pharmacy.

Again I struggled staying asleep and back up at 4 am. This is bound to end soon. I called my GF on FaceTime and sometimes you have to marvel at technology. Here we are a million miles away on a face to face wireless call.

Where I started (play symbol) and finished (blue dot). Up to the right is Ho Chi Minh City.

I started out of the hotel at daylight. It was a good stay. They don’t allow smoking in rooms but in the foyer and halls it’s obviously fine. I looked up the statistics and over 40% of men smoke to 1% of women. It’s seen as a masculine and very social activity.

Out of the hotel and on my bike my butt felt okay. I quickly found a pharmacy and the staff were helpful and I left with baby wipes and iodine cream. I saw the iodine symbol and sort of cringed thinking back to childhood cuts. Turns out this stuff doesn’t sting and it feels good afterwards. Phew!

I had locked my bike by the pharmacy and realized they 30’ away I could get coffee. That was another great experience where the first coffee was iced and then the second one hot (my original goal). Both were very good. The hot one was close to espresso but sweet. I really enjoyed interacting with the young staff and my confidence is growing as I get acclimatized.

Short caramel popcorn break by the river.

This trip is completely different from the other bikepacking trips. It’s less about the riding and more about getting right into a completely different cultural experience. I felt apprehensive and somewhat nervous but that’s when I know I have to push through and get myself outside of my comfort zone. So far so good.

I tried a grocery store and left with just Oreos. Nothing else was at all appealing. I figured if I didn’t find food on route that I had enough calories on board. I cannot get over how ubiquitous food is here. It’s literally everywhere. You will be riding down back alleys and there’s a grill or just a stand with snacks. It’s wild!

Once I got going I was riding through all back alleys. It was really fun. I got some amazing reactions because I stand out. A group of ladies were giggling and point as I passed them. I called out Xin Chau and that got another reaction.

The riding today was much better than yesterday. I set a shorter day based simply on where I can find accommodations. This town only had two choices and I settled on a 2 star hotel and that’s about accurate. It has the three important things (A/C, shower, bed).

Chickens everywhere. Not sure if maybe she is for sale!?

So many times up and over rivers. Took a barge ferry solo across on spot.

All day I rode off of main roads. I wasn’t almost exclusively hugging rivers and riding through agricultural areas. I’m in an area called the Mekong Delta. It’s known for rice and rich soils. I find it interesting to see how towns and cities and farming develops. Here all the housing seems built along the river and then behind are fields where they use the river to flood the rice fields.

The surface is concrete and mostly it’s good although my butt felt it in places where I got really jostled. I made fairly good time considering that I started riding closer to 8 am. By 11 am I arrived in a proper town for lunch. I googled places and went a bit of course. I sat down at one place and he said we just serve drinks so I rolled my bike 15’ to the next place and asked if I could have vegetarian. She said 500 yards down there is a vegetarian restaurant.

It delivered! It was a couple inside and three tables. I sat down, ordered a beer, and then she showed me all the different food. I just motioned all of it and I had a delicious feast. That was the best meal I have had yet. There were 5 different styles of tofu, noodles, vegetables and lots of salt and sugar which I crave riding. They were fun as well and we laughed and smiled lots.

After lunch I continued plugging my was down the river. At one point I came upon a soccer/football pitch about 1/4 size inside a fence. It was really out of place to the surroundings and I saw kids so I stopped. It was crazy. They came running out to me. “Hello, my name is $-@ what’s your name.” I grabbed my camera for a selfie and they went wild. It all felt energizing but also overwhelming as everyone was in my personal space. I ended up smiling and saying goodbye and riding off.

The afternoon was hot! Actually all day was hot hovering around sticky 30 C. I am not acclimatized and the heat is hard on me. I stop under shade for breaks. They have random benches places that seem to be for ads but they are just to the side of a business. They work well because I can lean my bike on them and sit down.

Up and down these stairs with a loaded bike.

I made the hotel by 2:30 with loads of time to get dinner, relax and shower. Tomorrow is a bigger ride. I hope my body feels good.

Oh, I almost forgot. I stopped for a cold drink and as I was leaving the girl who served me gave me a knitted star. “For you.” I’ll consider this my lucky charm.

Highlights:

-lunch was so good

-all the interactions, I haven’t seen any tourists since I left the airport

-interesting riding through developed areas and also farming

-the interaction with the kids

Today's ride: 100 km (62 miles)
Total: 403 km (250 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesSpeaking from (painful) experience, use baby wipes often during the day to clean any sore areas. It is the heat and long mileage, plus chafing and sweating, that sets you up for a nasty inflamed "pain in the butt". The sore I developed on day 2 of this trip is just now, after 3 weeks, feeling much improved. Dodie
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