Leaving the city of My Tho, we hired two motorcycles taxis to take us to a home stay on one of the Mekong tributaries, about 40 miles away. At first we enjoyed the ride as we traveled over the new bridge to Ben Tre, and then along a paved road past beautiful scenery with lush foliage, some rice paddies, and over several channels and small rivers; the road traffic was almost completely motor-bikes and bicycles. It is very common to see women driving their motorbikes. Often there are two, three even four people (the whole family) on a motorbike. But then the trip turned difficult, taking a hot, dusty, dirt road. It was the middle of the day and burning hot. The road was quite bumpy and my reading glasses fell out of my shirt pocket. We stopped but I couldn't find them and we continued on. We stopped for lunch in a dusty, forlorn looking village at a restaurant with a pile of coconuts in front. There was nobody eating in this place and I had my doubts about the cleanliness, but the woman who attended us made a good impression. We invited the drivers to have lunch with us and we all had pho, the great Vietnamese rice noodle soup made with beef or chicken. Ana and I asked for the soup without the beef. The soup comes with a plate of greens including sprouts and some sauces that you may add to your soup. It is really delicious and helps fight off dehydration.
After crossing another river (the Mekong again?) on a ferry we turned off the main road and followed a narrow paved path only about 4 feet wide at the most, past houses, forests, fields, fruit trees, and many people. It was frightening to go over the high narrow bridges over the canals riding on these bikes. We finally arrived at our place and checked into a simple but clean room with a fan and mosquito netting. The place is also has a nursery growing different kinds of flowers and is owned by ex Vietcong fighters who also play some traditional Vietnamese music. We listened to some of the music, but unfortunately were unable to communicate due to language difficulties.
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