Cycling adventures with Mike and Is

One of our passions is cycling - well, perhaps I should clarify that - one of Mike's passions is cycling, and one of Isabel's pass-times is joining him on mystery bike tours to explore the surroundings and have a change of scene.  Today we decided to find our way over to an area of green we could see from our apartment window - it seemed to be beckoning today as we discussed our plans, and we dragged out the well-used map to try and determine just how we were going to get there.

The first part of the journey was straight forward - but required crossing the bridge over the Saigon river that is taken by anyone from district 2 who is heading towards any other district in the city practically - so it is pretty busy most days. Once over this bridge, we turned right and followed our noses until we got to another bridge and decided to veer right and avoid going over it as we calculated that we'd overshot the distance. The right turn led to our first surprise discovery - a lovely park beside the river complete with sweet-smelling frangipane trees.

We then made our way towards the bridge to get over to the Binh Quoi area, negotiated our way amongst the traffic (not too busy as it was Saturday morning) and then explored for the day. First stop was down on the riverside where 2 branches of the Saigon river converge, and we enjoyed a refreshing drink while watching the boats pass by and the catfish jump. Our friendly waiter told us the fish are better on this side as they move across when the ships go past. Ships - yes - we watched a barge with 32 containers go past. The river is a big, wide, smooth flowing river so it is used for transportation of freight - kept the equivalent of 8 trucks off the road with one large container barge.

Once re-hydrated, it was off to meander around and try and find the green spaces. We were a bit of a curiosity to the locals as we rode past, some calling out 'Hello!', 'what's your name?', or, surprisingly cheerfully 'f*#@ off'!!! Yes. Seriously. I wondered whether that particular group of young males knew about the meaning of that particular phrase...bound to have heard it before, but it was a bit surprising to have it called out at us in such a friendly manner!!!

We made our way towards the top end of this island where the river looped around to find the side roads which led to the green space we had seen from our apartment window. Finally! The real cycling adventure we were after could begin. We enjoyed veering off roads, down side roads, in and out of tracks leading to people's homes and gardens...avoiding dogs, saying hello to locals (who didn't reply using any form of profanity!!) and enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of the countryside, so close to the city.

I've made a 'photobucket story' with a selection of images from the day. Check out the pink eggs on the aloe-style plant beside the duck pond - I'm guessing frogs or beetles but...? Not sure!