Our last cycling day today leaving Phan Thiet towards our final destination, Saigon. We rode out from our new resort hotel on a four lane highway with no other traffic. I was wondering about the millions of people here becoming more affluent. No doubt they will buy cars that are out of their reach at the moment. With Chinese and Russian investment coming in I think the place will change very quickly.
We cruised along today past miles of white sand beaches. All the villas had their boundaries decked with bougainvillea.
We ended our ride outside Saigon with a snack of Jack fruit, something I have never eaten fresh before, only canned. Its a really dense fibrous fruit that often appears on Vegan menus here. Our guide said it goes really well with chicken and that was his favourite meal. We also had a surprisingly refreshing sugar cane drink.
The end of our ride mapped out on our guides shirt. We didn’t cycle all of it but it felt like we experienced the real Vietnam.
Our ‘last supper’ was at the KOTO restaurant which stands for ‘know one, teach one’ it was started by an Australian – Vietnamese as a training restaurant for disadvantaged children. We had a set menu which included a duck curry which was a first for us.
Alan's Retirement 