Mekong Delta Day 8 - An Binh Island to My Tho

A memorable stay at Nam Thanh Homestay together with the host Huen, his wife Hien and younger brother.

Prior to the departure from the homestay I had the chance to wash my bicycle after the muddy trail encountered on the previous day.

One more picture at the main gate of the homestay before we set on for our journey.

Bye bye An Binh a place with road that is narrow and good enough for motorists and bicycles.

Our first stop for the day was at Chua Yien Chao Temple near An Binh Ferry Terminal which we came into the island.

 We have recced on this route a day earlier to ensure that the ferry terminal to Cai Be is found.

After 9km we reached the ferry terminal there were people waiting for the boat some together with their goods such longan, rambutan and others.

A sign of Happy Family Guesthouse was seen at the ferry terminal, the guesthouse that we met the helpful lady who gave the direction to this ferry terminal.

The river where we will be expecting a ferry to board and bring us to our next ground for us to continue our cycling journey.

We were waiting at this shop infront of the terminal. When I came back to Malaysia I was told by Huan that the lady selling sugar juice in the shop was his student, she speaks English and was helpful to ensure that there will be a ferry going to Cai Be.

Finally the ferry came and we were happy to board it together with the local commuters.

The distance of this boat ride took about 2km starting from a small canal into and across Mekong River before arriving at another smaller canal for disembarkation. 

The boatman told us to disembark at this location GPS : 10.330617, 106.003332 which is near a temple known as Khan Chau Temple.

And off we went towards our direction to the floating market of Cai Be.

 Having reached Cai Be town and we were eager to find the floating market and got help from the local for its direction.

I guess the floating market is over publicised which I was disappointed to see that there was hardly any marketing activity but merely boats. Maybe it's seasonal which I am not sure. If one wishes to visit I would suggest one to double check it before you decided to go.

We went checking on both sides of the rivers cycling along the narrow pathway only seeing many shops and stalls mostly selling souvenir items and yes there were a few of tourists seen.

We had fun taking pictures with the local children and its rustic surrounding.

We proceeded heading towards My Tho using Route DT864 with a couple of detours for bridge construction.

One of the few temporary bridges we crossed during this ride.

Somewhere at Hội Xuân, Cai Lậy, Tiền Giang, GPS : 10.324570, 106.081969 we stopped by for our lunch. The food operator was friendly and we had a satisfactory meal.

Though it was late we managed to get some food.

Opposite the food stall I saw durian and I could not resist myself but to buy a fruit. This one was not as good as the previous one we tried at Ben Tre.

Fenn and Sooi Ying were enjoying their Vietnamese durian.

The rain came intermittently which it did not deter us from moving on.

A stop for sinh to (fruit shake) at the fringe of My Tho, GPS : 10.351901, 106.349440

A view from the hotel room at Rach Mieu Bridge spanning across Mekong River. It was Hotel Rang Dong Riverside that we checked in for the night. Located at the boulevard of Houang Sa GPS : 10.348097, 106.345553

On Day 8 we covered a distance of 56km to My Tho including a ferry ride from An Binh Island to somewhere near Cai Be.