Biking Down the Coast

The days are getting squeezed together as we work our way down the coast about 150 miles/day. We bike about 30 miles in the morning, then ride the remainder in the van. As we go south, the temperature rises and the rice becomes more brown – which means that it’s ready to harvest. Vietnam is the 2d largest producer of rice in the world next to the US. Most of that rice comes from the Mekong Delta but we see lots and lots of rice in the foothills of the central part of the country. As we bike along the coast we also see lots of salt ponds – evaporation ponds to make salt from seawater.

The past few days have been a blur – from HoiAnh, south to CuChi, QuynYohn and this past night at NhaTrang. Today we go up into the mountains to DaLat, the old French resort where it should be cooler. We are among the very few Americans at the resorts where we stay – most occupants are German, English and Australian. The beaches are spectacular but I have an aversion to swimming in seawater when I have large and beautiful freshwater swimming pools everywhere we go. Plus the ever-present waiters who bring cold beer as often as you need one.

I’ve been struggling to find a way to convey to you how different this place is than what many of you remember - so I’ll talk about water. Remember that this is a tropical country with all the problems of clean water that one finds in Africa and South America. Next to malaria, dirty water kills more people in the world than any other cause and the last time I was here no one in his right mind drank the tap water without endangering his life. Today the water is as consistently clean as anywhere in the states no matter where one goes. Water is processed at treatment plants and even the meanest shack has clean water on tap. That’s dramatic because of what it says about infrastructure construction and what has happened here. There is an absolutely enormous amount of investment money coming into Vietnam and the place is booming.

We see from CNN that you’re getting socked really badly by the weather and we’re not looking forward to returning to the rain and cold, but this is rapidly coming to a close. So until tonite while in DaLat, chao for now.