Another cycling trip is planned so we are up and at the Five Star by 7am. In addition to Monica and Jean-Ann there is also Natalie an Irish girl who is married to a French chef and who has lived in Vietnam for 10 years. She is 36yo and a really nice girl. We headed over to Cam Kim on the ferry and then cycled a total of 28.3km to Duy Hai and then came back across the ferry to Cua Dai. We went over a number of bridges to crisscross the River and dams. We spent a lot of time on main roads. We stopped at a coffee shop in the fishing village where Mama and Poppa Phuong live for coffee and Natalie got us a sugar cane drink. Well the sugar cane drink was very sweet and refreshing. Apparently it is quite good for you as it has the good sugars in it. When we got to the ferry crossing near the new bridge we were told it was not operating today. Kevin then decided he would come back over the new bridge so off he goes. The rest of us peddle down to the Cua Dai ferry and cross over. At the ferry we meet Ken an Englishman that is involved in land deals in An Bang and other places. He says he has the perfect block of land 500sqm for sale at US$350k. He then says he has a block at Cua Dai and offered to take us to have a look. The block actually was in a nice location on the coast and the price was US$100k for 500sqm. We then rode through the village and I headed back up the town road while the girls headed to AnBang. Kevin was home and we made arrangements to catch Andrew later in the day. Vang rang and asked Kevin to come to Betel to be measured for his shirt. He came back and says the shirt is going to be long sleeved as they have too much material. He is not happy but at least it will be a tighter fit. Kevin headed to the beach and I went to Betel to download the books for Monika. Unfortunately it wasn't simple and I took forever and thought I had succeeded but turns out I didn't. I arrived at the beach and Kevin and the girls had just finished lunch. I ordered lunch and we sat chatting together until about 3pm when the girls left. I had decided not to attend the lessons today but I did call in and say goodbye to Tan. She thanked me for my help over the past 7 weeks. We met with Andrew at 4pm to discuss further bamboo bikes and the pros and cons. Kevin is set on getting one next year as he wants speed. We arranged to go to the factory at Cam Thanh on Tuesday afternoon to have a conversation with the manufacturer to see if he can get a better quality gear shift and components. We went and had a look at Andrews house which is a two bedroom and costs US$325 pm. Not a bad setup. We met the girls again for dinner at the Minh Hien Vegetarian 50 Tran Cao Van Street. We had a range of dishes and we asked for no chilli but alas all the dishes had chilli. We sent 2 back and spoke with mama. We then walked back down the Hem to see Monika's cycle repair shop which is just across the road from where we had been having breakfast. We got back on Tran Hung Dao St and they showed us where Mr Hung, the visa renewal shop was. No 68. We took another couple of Hem roads and came back onto the one where we started and we saw Karen who operates a school here in HoiAn and who Monika and Jean-Ann know well. We stopped and chatted for half an hour before collecting our bike and heading home.
