Once again we had breakfast at our hotel. It's not the best thing because it slows down our getaway and they are generally very boring. By seven o'clock we were on the the road northwards to Long Mỹ, a much quieter road than the taking Highway One northwards via Bạc Liêu and Sóc Trăng which was our other option.

We had a headwind for pretty much the whole ride today, not very strong but enough to slow us down. The problem with a flat route and a headwind is that you are working all the time and there is no chance of freewheeling except on the short downhill side of the bridges over the canals. There was not much we could apart from push on patiently and take lots of stops, which is what we did. Every 12-15 kilometers we would find a ca fe vong and share a cold drink. At most of the stops we had interaction, but not necessarily communication, with other patrons, usually accompanied by lots of laughter but little understanding on both sides.

One of the less pleasant sights, which we had also seen further south, was the number of wild birds in tiny cages. These are for the wild meat trade, and while I can accept that eating herons and bitterns is a tradition going back thousands of years, when it is done on a commercial level like this it cannot possibly be sustainable or humane. The birds seen caged included White-breasted Waterhen, Purple Heron, Little Egret, Eastern Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night-heron, Spot-billed Pelican, Little Cormorant, Oriental Darter and Spot-billed Duck. None of these birds are rare but they have been harvested from nests, effectively removing a clutch from a breeding season, and this practice must surely affect their numbers over time.

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When we arrived in Long Mỹ we headed for the Phuc Lam Hotel which we had seen on Google Maps. Organizing a room took a lot of effort, particularly for two tired cyclists, but we eventually got a nice clean aircon room for 250K VND. The three ladies working here were dead keen on chatting away to us without much success in us understanding each other. We did eventually learn the Vietnamese word for South Africa - Nam Phi - and Leigh once again got bogged on for allowing herself to get suntanned.