Welcome to the final day of my Mekong Delta do-it-yourself cycle tour!
This is a shorter and easier days’ ride, and probably by right about now you’re keen to be out of the saddle and swinging in a hammock.
The destination is An Binh Island, a popular destination for independent travellers looking for a chilled out homestay experience.
An Binh is another farming area, but this time specialising in longans, a small brown fruit often confused with the lychee.
Once again it’s amazing how travelling such a short distance can result in such a different landscape – where Gieng Island and Sa Dec are lush and green, An Binh Island is far more hot and dry.
Route info
Day: five of five
Terrain: Flat, including one ferry crossing (or two if you take the alternative route)
Distance: 30-33 km
Watch out for: heavy vehicles on the highway sections.
Map
It’s the highway – or the highway
So far my Mekong Delta bike trip has been all about getting off the highways to find small, secret, tree-lined paths.
With the mission nearly accomplished, I’m sad to say that this Day 5 route falls a little short.
Despite hours pouring over Google maps, I struggled to find a really workable back road route to An Binh and its dozy, rural homestays.
That’s mainly due to the lack of convenient bridges over the north-south rivers and canals which bisect the route.
Unless you detour a long way south, there is simply no way across.
My original plan, however, was to do just that courtesy of a rambling 50km route. I even plotted this out for myself on the Google map so feel free to give it a go.
When push comes to shove, after a weeks’ worth of trial-and-error cycling in the Mekong Delta, I do admit to taking the easier route this time around.
Yep – by this stage I admit I was pretty keen to be lying in a hammock.
So. The route I took was less interesting but got me to An Binh with time up my sleeve to search for the perfect homestay.
It took some searching, but I found my hammock and a great place to chill before the journey back to Saigon.
Heading out from Sa Dec
To head out of town, first cross the old Sa Dec bridge (Cau Sat Quay). You’ll soon come to a road stretching the length of An Hiep island.
It’s a sparsely populated agricultural part of the Delta with no hugely remarkable features, but does offer an very pleasant space for cycling, especially in the cooler early morning air.
There are very few people around and in no time you’ll feel that incomparable feeling of freedom that comes with being out on the road.
After around seven kilometres you’ll reach the small village of An Hiep.
This little junction a good place to stop for coffee and a baguette, in fact I think An Hiep had the cheapest iced coffee I found in all my travels (about 5,000 VND). AND it was delicious.
From An Hiep, you have a choice: 1) turn off at the Tu Phuoc bridge or 2) continue on to a newly re-opened ferry service near the eastern end of the island.
I’d be open to both possibilities – it may depend on road condition and any roadworks in progress.
Highway 80 – not all that bad
Highway 80 is a busy but not-too-busy thoroughfare with a nice broad shoulder for cycling.
By taking the detour marked on my map, it’s possible to limit your highway time to 9 kilometres.
That way you also avoid an enormous and intimidating flyway intersection with the QL1A, that squeezes two-wheeled transport in with trucks.
The back way also takes you through some suddenly traditional countryside, an interface between rural life and urban reality.
With no river crossing in sight, you’ll soon be forced back on to the dusty highway however.
Thankfully this only continues as a true highway for a kilometre or two before transforming into Vinh Long’s main street.
Vinh Long is a fairly big place so keep an eye on
The ferry station is located near a pleasant riverside park and the impressive-looking Vinh Long Museum. I didn’t go in but it could be worth checking out.
Joining the queue for the ferry, do as the locals do and grab a refreshing nuoc mia (sugarcane juice). There must be at least four vendors ready and waiting for your trade.
Arriving on An Binh Island by bike
Making your way across An Binh Island is relatively straightforward – providing you don’t stray from the main road. The maze of canal paths criss-crossing the island is just that – a maze, and it is very, very easy to get lost.
OK, it was very, very easy for ME to get lost.
Anyway. I started with the intention of riding all the way across the island to find the well-rated Happy Family Guesthouse. It has a swimming pool which made it a pretty appealing proposition.
In the heat of the day this very quickly became all too hard and instead I looked around for accommodation closer to the wharf.
After checking out almost every guesthouse in the vicinity, the Phuong Thao was a clear winner in terms of price, prettiness and comfort.
An Binh: the homestay experience
An Binh is known as a riverine island, but in fact it’s the protruding end of a long parcel land perched between the Mekong and Co Chien rivers.
A quick ferry ride from the large regional town of Vinh Long, An Binh boasts several ‘homestays’, which are really more like low-key guesthouses.
The area has a distinctly rural feel and is covered with orchards, primarily farming longans, a small brown round fruit.
During my visit in mid-December, the landscape is also much drier than the places I’ve been further west. The vegetation is more scrappy and – sadly – there’s more litter.
Coming from lusher, cosier areas of the Mekong Delta, I find An Binh less appealing. That said the accommodation is charming enough to make this a worthy end point for my Mekong Delta cycling tour.
An Binh gives the chance to eat and sleep right amongst the Delta’s canals, take part in some hammock time and enjoy the company of like minded travellers.
Accomodation
While there are a few places on An Binh that are very close to the ferry station, it’s worth your while to go a little inland.
As mentioned I stayed at the Phuong Thao Guesthouse, and would recommend it.
This is a beautifully maintained and clean space, with wood and thatch buildings that are wonderfully cool at night.
As with most of the homestays in the area, rooms are fan cooled and there are shared bathrooms outside, with hammocks in the communal spaces.
The owners are lovely but a little shy. This is a chilled out place, so if you need something or need to know something its a matter of speaking up.
My room cost 230,000 VND for a single room, including breakfast and communal bathrooms.
Phuong Thao is located about 500 metres along a small canal road; further along there are two other guesthouses, giving you other options in the extremely unlikely event it is full.
It’s very easy to get there by simply following the main bitumen road from the ferry – the turn off is just past a cluster of restuarants and grocery shops.
Next door, Ba Vinh is slightly more upmarket, with en-suite rooms.
I was quoted a still reasonable price of 450,000 VND for one person including both breakfast and dinner.
Things to do
There’s not a heap to do or see on the island and most visitors spend their time exploring on bikes they’ve rented or explored from their homestay.
For me at the end of my bicycle tour, I was very content to catch up on some washing and cleaning (soooo much mud on my paniers) and enjoy the hammocks.
Walking
From the Phuong Thao homestay, follow the canal road for a lovely early morning walk that takes you through a pretty neighbourhood nestled in orchards. The canal here is filled with water plants and resembles a river of green.
If you’re up early, it’s a good place to see the sun rise over the river.
Cycling
For a pleasant morning or evening casual cycling route, strike west along the canal road from Phuong Thao. The path runs almost all the way to the west side of An Binh.
Kayak
The Phuong Thao Guesthouse has a pair of two-man kayaks to rent for a very reasonable 50K per hour.
While the scenery isn’t amazing, it’s very pleasant to paddle down the canal for a bit, watching local life go by both on and off the river. There is also a quite a lot of birdlife to be spotted, including lovely bright blue kingfishers.
Eating
The homestay has a small menu with main meals for about 80-100,000 VND. If you are travelling in a group or as a couple the 200K set meals represent much better value.
If you are on a tight budget or want to venture outside the accomodation for lunch, there is a clean, well presented eatery nearby serving beef noodle soup (pho bo) or southern-style noodle soup with pork hu tieu.
Getting there or away
An Binh Island is an easy trip to or from Ho Chi Minh City.
The route is serviced by Phuong Trang (FUTA) sleeper buses, which will happily take your bicycle back to Saigon (expect to pay roughly the same for your bicycle ticket as for yourself).
For people travelling with a bike, I’d also recommend Phuong Trang as the company with the clearest and most accommodating rules around bicycle-under-bus transport.
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