Those really come in handy for me!

How great!

Looks like a reasonable quick fix with packing foam, but perhaps a rigid piece of metal rod or even thin wood (chopstick?) Taped tightly over the broken place would add some structural integrity?

Are you comfortable in the tight sun sleeves? Dodie finds that she is cooler in looser clothing, and has found a sun protective bolero from Terry Women's Bicycle clothing that fits loosely over the arms but stays up because of the bolero fabric over the back.

I was in Saigon several years ago at the start of an organized Saigon to Bangkok bike ride. In search of an SD card adaptor, I found myself wandering up and down "Electronics Street", which was lined with small shops jammed full of new, used and semi-obsolete electronic parts and equipment. I didn't find my adaptor there, but loved exploring the small stores and trying to communicate with the shopkeepers.
Wishing you a wonderful trip - I am excited to follow along.

Dodie is the worrier on our team and yes, it can make for interrupted sleep. Hope things soon settle into a good routine, you get more used to the heat, and the sleep for you BOTH becomes restful.

I’m impressed with us too, ha. But it’s all due to Pocket Earth. We rarely use it outside of megacities but it’s pretty amazing.

Oh, I’m stylin’. Everyone says so.

Nice that Andrea’s sleeves, shoes and helmet all match!

I am so impressed! I never dreamed you were going to ride out of the city but rather put the bikes in a pickup or something. Bravo! That rack will get fixed, they know how to repair most anything in SE Asia. Good job of fixing it on the fly like that.

We’re happy to have you along, George. Our trips may not be very typical of the CycleBlaze crowd, most of whom are much more serious riders than we are. We find it a very cool way to travel, the cycling is a way to get off the beaten path and have more freedom. We are wimps and go pretty slowly and don’t train and then pay the price and do a lot of whining, etc. It’s good for us to have our readers who keep us going and encourage us and overlook our focus on obscure topics rather than stats. Thank you for showing up for us, believe me, we need that.

I don’t know if I coined it, honestly, but ever since we rode in Hanoi 7 years ago it’s how I’ve conceptualized how the flow of motorbike traffic works in Vietnam. For the most part, they are considerate of us and our bumbling around in the midst of an otherwise elegant flow. Many of them are in a big hurry and come closer than feels comfortable (to us). Now we are out in the delta towns and there are elders on bicycles that have their own set of rules, and there also seems to be more people who are unwilling to cross into their own lane of traffic and just ride right into our lane and even honk at us to get out of their way! One town will feel smooth, another frenetic and crazy. I guess it’s just what each locale is willing to tolerate.

I've read all the introductory parts and am now looking forward to following along on your adventure. My only experience anywhere close to that region of the world is a few weeks in South Korea on a work assignment in 2019. Korea was way too crowded and too much air pollution for me to imagine bike touring. But I've heard good things about the tourist experience in Vietnam, and my sister enjoyed a supported bicycle tour in nearby Thailand, so I will be following along to see how things go for you. Best of luck!

That looks pretty disciplined....no pushing and trying to get ahead? Would look totally different in Germany ;)

Along with Betsy, I'm also one of your readers who appreciate odd things like that. The Chid story too.