Well the first day of the tour has finally arrived. Although we don’t start riding till tomorrow, Mr Biker, Saigon looks after us from about 3:30pm today.
Caught up with Ken this morning, hadn’t seen him since the Malaysian tour in 2019. The only one I haven’t seen yet is Franziska, who I last toured with in 2012!
After breakfast with Kev we headed out for a “wander” to a Buddhist Temple (Vinh Nghiem Pagoda) which Google Maps said was 3 km away. At the 4.3 I’m mark we found the temple. It was worth the effort and there was a chant happening as we arrived, which set the stage nicely.
Because the road we went there on was so busy, I decided to return via the path beside the river. Much quieter and less dangerous due to the fact that we wouldn’t have to cross all those roads. However the river headed away a bit first so it added a few ks to the walk. Kev pulled the pin and went directly back while I continued along the river. I actually beat him home and he looked a little buggered when he walked in. He measured the walk at 12 km, while I did more like 15. An afternoon rest was well deserved.
Mr Biker, Saigon, Quy and Trong, picked us up in a bus at 3:30pm and took us to their bike shop where we fitted our own saddles, pedals, quad locks, bags etc to the allocated bikes. All the bikes looked fairly new and everyone was happy with the quality. After hanging around and talking bikes mostly, we were taken to a restaurant where they feed us an unlimited amount of great fresh food. Those who wanted could drink as much quality wine as they wished. Why do people keep trying to give me drinks since I gave up drinking? It was then back to the motel for a late night (2140) by my standards anyway.
The Buddhist Temple
The Palace where the famous NV tank smashed through the gates to end the Vietnam War.
Mr Biker laid on a great meal and all the wine the boys could drink.
Having a chat after the bike fitting
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