Can Tho's big suspension bridge

Just before you enter Can Tho, you go over this rather impressive suspension bridge. Lots of the bikes stop to take photos. Its not very safe to do so but this is Vietnam. Some people were even having lunch!! Below are some of the shots.

Its a big incline to get up the bridge and you get a nice view at the top.

 

Can Tho by motorbike

We have a long weekend in Vietnam, its basically the equivalent of Easter in the UK. We decided that as I have a newer and more reliable bike, we should do a road trip into the Mekong Delta to a place called Can Tho. This is the biggest city in the Mekong Delta.

 

Although its only 168km, the roads are not that good so we expected it to take between 4 and 5 hours. It was a nice road trip. We stopped for regular breaks. I didn't realize how saw your arse gets from sitting on a bike for so long. The 'service' stations are a bit different to the UK. They are just people house with dusty hammocks on the side of the road. These are shown in the pictures below.

 

The hammocks are very nice and allowed me to admire the view of my bike and the dusty roads. Coconuts are cheap and plentiful. Its about 70p for one!

 I'm sure we will be doing more road trips in the future!!

 

 

 

First Vietnamese football league match - HCMC F.C vs Hai Phong F.C

As the basketball season is now over I need to find another sport to keep myself occupied. My mate tole me that I should come and watch Ho Chi Minh City F.C play. They play in the Vietnamese football league which is like Vietnams answer to the premier league. The only difference is that the start is lower... A lot lower.... so low I think that I could have tryouts. Im addition, its not htat well supported. 

I went yesterday and agreed to meet a group of my friends there. I'd not been tehre before and although finding the stadium wasn't a problem, finding my mates was and I ended up going in the away supporters end, which was actually okay. It reminded me of the game I saw in Phnom Penh years ago. It kicked off at dusk and I got to sit on concrete steps in the evening sun. It was very nice.

The game itself was pretty terrible and ended 0-1 to the other team, Hai Phong, the opposition, had come all the way form near Hanoi and brought quite a few fans. They were pretty happy with there 0-1 win.

I'll probably go again as it was entertaining and nice to be in the open air. It was also very cheap, 40,000 VND which is about £1.30.

Fairy Springs revisited, Mui Ne, Vietnam

I revised the Fairy Springs in Mui Ne which I last visited about six years ago. This is basically a river that runs through sand dunes to the sea. You can walk up it and its pretty impressive.

Since my last visit, the Vietnamese are doing their best to ruin it by building lots of crap along the river. They don't seem to understand that people who like visiting natural beauty spots want them to look like natural beauty spots. However, it was still really good to see the white and red dunes.

Back to Mui Ne, Vietnam

Ive just come to the end of a 10 week semester and because we had a great time last time and because its cheap, we have gone back to Mui Ne for a few days. Sadly the other hotel we stayed in was fully booked but we still got another really nice hotel. 

 

 

The beach was very nice and as I went with my Vietnamese nephew, I got to build a sandcastle. 

 

 

 

It also had a very nice pool

 

Back to work next week for another 10 week semester. We do have a public holiday in a few weeks though.

New Motorbike

With my pending 40th birthday, and because I needed to replace my old one, I decided to buy a new motorbike. Its not 'new' but only done 6k and its 6 months old. Its a Honda 'Future'. Its got a 150 engine and is semi automatic. It's much nicer to drive that my old one. Now I have a more reliable bike I can do road trips. There are two public holiday days soon and we are planning to drive into the Mekong Delta to  place called Can Tho for a long weekend. Below are some pictures.