More Chilling in Vinh Long

Vinh Long province, that is.  See, the city of Vinh Long is nestled against the south bank of the Cổ Chiên river.  It's maybe 75 miles or so Southwest of HoChiMinh City, down highway 1.  From the city, take highway 53 about 30 minutes further Southwest, across the (relatively) big bridge, then a back road, then a backer road (this one all dirt).  I've pinned it on my phone, so now I can find my way all the way back to HoChiMinh City if I ever need to do so.

Point being, we're in the countryside, near a small market and village-ish place of some sort, and 30 minutes from a real city.  You can go out during the day, but it's not advised - sun, wind, and dirt make it not so much fun.  Go out in the morning, or the late afternoon (or evening).

Nonetheless, we went out during the day.  For exercise, we walked to the main road, and stopped (again) at the school.  This time we went inside and looked around.  It was Saturday, so school was not in session.  We wandered North on TL901 until the curve, then walked back.  My flipflop made a raw spot between my toes.

When we got back, Bao had friends from school over for snacks.  I sat down with them for a bit, and discovered a) their English is not so good, b) they are shy, and c) maybe their English is better, but they are shy to talk.

So we went out again, but this time on the bike.  We went back to TL901, and first to the market.  we also went up on the bridge to show Alex the river.

Then we went back to TL901, and north again, and kept going around the bend, and then generally whichever direction the road was going.  It kind of ducked around the tributary (there aren't that many bridges over rivers of any size).  We saw many small cafes and rua xe's and some schools and shops and this and that.  Occasionally we went over small waterways, with boats.

We got a junction finally, and I didn't know which way to go (and I couldn't read my iPhone that well in the sunlight).  So we turned around and went back.  I ran my video camera on the iPhone during the trip, but as it turned out, I had it pointed too high, and my finger was over the picture for a lot of the trip, so I deleted the video.  Maybe I'll try again sometime.