A ride through this stunning landscape is travel at its most rewarding

I’m at traffic lights on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City when someone pulls up next to me. He’s smoking a cigarette with about 13 (hopefully empty) gas cylinders precariously balanced on the back of his motorbike. He takes one glance at my bicycle, panniers, and flimsy helmet, and looks at me like I’m the crazy one.

Maybe he’s right.

But I want to experience what it feels like to cycle out of the city before diving into the Mekong Delta, a journey that will see me ride some 500 kilometres through coconut plantations, rice paddies and what might be one of the most stunning landscapes on Earth.

Cycling the Mekong Delta is about as “choose your own adventure” as travel can get. There is no defined route, no must-visit destinations, and no guides for you to follow. It works like this: find a hotel or a guest house within the limits of your two legs, put the walking directions into Google Maps, and avoid main roads as you cycle through parts of Vietnam that have never known another tourist. I’m doing this for 10 days, with most days varying from 40 to 60 kilometres of riding.

Leaving Ho Chi Minh, the madness of its traffic starts to make sense. The honks are not out of rage or malice but simply an expression of existence. I am here, you are too, and we are all floating down the same asphalt rivers. Some of us might be floating a little faster than others, but I somehow feel safer on these roads than I do cycling at home in Australia, as the cars and motorbikes give me a generous amount of space.

As I escape the clutches of the city, the landscape opens up with an impossible burst of green. Things become slower, more pastoral, and almost everyone either smiles or gives me a heartfelt cry of “hello!” as I roll through their farms and rice paddies.

The kids are particularly charming. A gaggle of them ride over to inspect me, their jerry-rigged ebikes carrying anywhere from two to four of them at a time. They say hello, I respond with “xin chao”, and if I wasn’t already in love with Vietnam, seeing their smiles and hearing their joyful laughter would make me fall head over heels.

Tourists are rare on these rural roads and the result is that you will shake many hands. Having a coffee? Handshake. Taking a photo? Handshake. Waking up a dude in a hammock so you can buy a much-needed bottle of cold water? You better believe he’s going to want to shake your hand, even if your hand is slimy from all that grease, sunscreen and sweat.

This is a large part of what makes exploring the Mekong Delta so special. It’s one of those rare parts of the world that is just as amazed with you as you are with it.

Amazed I am, as my journey takes me from Go Cong to Ben Tre, from Ba Tri to Tra Vinh, and from many other places that you’ve probably never heard of and that I struggle to pronounce. This is coconut country. If you’ve ever drunk coconut water in Australia, chances are it came from somewhere around here.

These coconuts not only make for a delicious snack but also fantastic shade as I weave through the endless rows of a sweeping plantation. I fly alongside overgrown rivers, race across rural rice paddies, and roll through markets that don’t so much transport me back in time as they bend time right around me.

Then all it takes to snap me back to the present is the sound of over-amplified music. It’s coming from a karaoke machine the size of a fridge, something which, based on the amount of beer I have to drink with ice in my glass, this house presumably doesn’t have. A woman is singing in her pyjamas at 9am with the volume up so loud that the whole house shakes around her.

Despite feeling like I’m exploring a lost part of the world, accommodation options are surprisingly good on this ride. In many cases, the guest houses and hotels I stay in have hot showers and water pressure. It’s hard to spend more than 40 bucks a night.

That said, there is one place I manage to splash out on. Thala Tra Vinh is a resort in the middle of nowhere, which only adds to its charm. After cycling a few hundred kilometres, floating in the pool with a delightfully cold beer is exactly what my unlicensed doctor ordered.

It’s worth mentioning that for all the gorgeous riding I experience, some segments of my journey are brutal. Long stretches of exposed road, excruciating heat and trucks billowing exhaust fumes down my throat make me, a seasoned bike-tourer and South-East Asian aficionado, doubt this decision.

But this uncertainty fades when a stranger rolls up next to me on his motorbike. He slows, hands me a plastic bag filled with water bottles mid-flight, and rides off with a casual wave of his hand before I can even thank him.

There are also times when the power of your two legs can only take you so far. You will, inevitably, have to catch a ferry across one of the many mouths of the Mekong Delta, where you’ll be surrounded by motorbikes, curious locals and the great expanse of those murky waters. Catching a ferry from Ba Tri to Tra Vinh is a highlight ride but be warned, some of the ferry routes on Google Maps simply don’t exist, so always have a back-up plan.

Fussy eaters should take warning, too, as Google reviews are useless in this part of the world. Most times, it’s hard to tell if the place I’m looking at is a restaurant, a hairdresser, or a mechanic (sometimes, it’s all three). The best way to get food is to find somewhere that looks busy and point to what everyone else is having.

This works well until I’m sitting on a tiny plastic stool with a bowl of offal soup in front of me. All the liver, intestines and bits we’ve done away with in our Western diets are swimming around in that bowl and staring back at me. It looks like hell but tastes like heaven, as long as I ignore the jawbone of an animal that has somehow ended up under the table.

This is all to say that while cycling through the Mekong Delta might not be travel at its easiest, it’s without doubt travel at its most rewarding. Much like the rivers here, it’s best to go with the flow instead of fighting against currents you’ll never be able to control.

But if you’re willing to let the Mekong Delta take the wheel, you’ll find paradise, pure and simple. It’s the kind of place you want to go before the world turns, times change and tour groups go there en masse. I saw only one while I was there, and it was already one too many.

THE DETAILS

FLY
Vietnam Airlines flies non-stop from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to Ho Chi Minh City. See vietnamairlines.com

RIDE
You can rent bikes from Mr Biker Saigon for $25 a day. These come with saddlebags, helmets and a repair kit, which is always handy. They also run bicycle tours for those who want the extra support on their Mekong adventure. See mrbikersaigon.com

STAY
Thala Tra Vinh has comfortable rooms and an excellent pool, which is exactly what you need after a long day cycling. Rooms from $175 a night. See www.facebook.com/Thalatravinh

MORE
See vietnam.travel

The writer travelled at his own expense.