Day 19 - Another lazy ish morning and down for breakfast, a nice omelette this time. We hired a couple of bikes for the day which was pretty dangerous due to the lack of rules on the road and the fact that the bikes weren't built to go in a straight line!

With our strategy in place for the large bridge, we set out for the Thien Mu Pagoda which is a buddist monk temple approx 7km's from the hotel. We managed to get to the bridge junction, the lights turned green and across we went. Point and go seemed to be the best technique, that or close your eyes!! I led and Alice followed close behind. Nearing the other side, wanting to turn left we manoeuvred ourselves into prime position. The lights went green and we went for it and luckily we survived, high fiving as we settled into a nice cycle along the riverside road. Considering the temperature was approximately 30 degrees already, it was quite nice to have the breeze in our faces. A couple of breather stops and we made it. We parked the bikes up and had a quick rest before tackling the steps upto the pagoda.

Once rested and up the steps, we sat in the shade for a bit where a really nice Vietnamese woman came over for a chat. She was studying to become a teacher and I think she wanted to test her English. Not sure she picked the right couple to learn off but oh well!

The pagoda was up on a hill side with great views of the Perfume River. After about an hour we headed back to the bikes (after being asked if we wanted a boat ride about 5 times. I'm sure they see you say no to the others so why ask?!!). We set off back to town via a 'secret garden' which was pretty dull as it was just a shrine a manderine's had built to honour the emperor. Not sure they get many visitors as it wasn't open when we arrives! We had a drink by the river on route back to town, "2 7up's please". What did we get, pepsi, similar sounding!!

Back across the other bridge in town no problems and a cycle to the part of town we had not seen. We had a look at the Redemptorist Church and also one of the 5 star hotels which is in the old French ambassadors residence out that way. A spot of lunch at Phoung Nam where we had gone for dinner the night before. Crispy noodles with beef, chicken and pork, one of the beat meals of the trip. We then decided to have a bit of a sit down by the river to watch the world go by as it was sweltering. On route we had to cycle over the busiest roundabout I have ever seen. I went for it full on, Alice tiptoed around the outside! Couldn't get the camera out in time! On arrival at the river, "1 hour boat", "no thanks", "you come on my boat, 1 hour", "no thank you", "you buy my boat, 1 hour", "arghhhh, please go away". After getting through the battle field we sat by the river gathering strength to tackle the 'bridge of doom' again to go to the supermarket to stock up for sleeper train food.

On entering the bridge section, about 15 cyclo's went onto the bridge carrying sight-seers which didn't bode well. As they stuck to the right hand side we had to overtake whilst being overtaken ourselves by mopeds and cars!! Safely (ish) across Alice hit the supermarket whilst I looked after the 2 dream machines. A small kid, no more than 8 years old came limping over and asked for money for food and rubbing his belly. After saying no about 3 or 4 times, he proceeded to walk (no limp) away at speed. I shouted at him, he took this to mean that I may give him some money so came limping back over. I just pointed at his leg and called him a liar, not sure he understood or cared for that matter as he 'ran' away! I am pretty sure his dad was standing close by as some bloke was just staring at me so we had a stare competition, only one winner with the sunglasses on!! That's right, I am 15 again!

Food in hand it was back to the hotel to put the food with our bags. We tried a couple of banks on the way to try and get some cash to go to Cuc Phong with. I asked the woman on reception where the nearest Agribank was as this seemed to be the only one that would give us 5,000,000vnd at one time. She didn't know but pointed me to another bank a quick 10 minute ride away. I left Alice in the hotel and set off on a cash run. After the 5th bank I had got quite far away from the hotel but luckily as I came out of one bank, a fella sitting on the floor pointed down the road, over the massive roundabout to an Agribank. 5,000,000vnd in hand, it was back to the hotel. We then walked to a local bar to have a drink and let Alice have her daily pancake fix before going back to the hotel. They let us use the shower before ordering us a taxi to the train station.

When at the train station there was just a mass of people and nowhere to sit so the floor it was. Luckily after about 20 minutes, the train to Ho Chi Minh City arrived and the station emptied so we had a seat. The announcement came and lots of people got up so we guessed it was our train. Lots of people pushing into the queue, only for the train to not have arrives yet!! We wandered down the platform to where it says coach 8 which we were in. Weak bladder boy had to use the loo on the platform which wasn't a great experience I have to say and then to top it off a woman shouted at me for money after I'd got out! I tried to joke with her a bit, "don't suppose we can haggle on the price for a wee can ya!" the blank look back said it all!

A train arrived at the platform but it didn't loom right so no one got on, we followed suit. 10 minutes later another train arrived from the other direction and there was a mass panic to get on so on we went. Coach 8, bunk 9 and 10. We thought this would be top and bottom bunk but it was actually both bottom bunks which was much better. The train pulled away and no one else had got into our compartment which was a massive bonus. We tucked into our home made cheese and crisp baguettes, washed down with the remainder of the crisps and sweets!! We couldn't work out how to use the boiling water so the noodles had to wait. With train moving like something at Eurodisney and still no one in the compartment it was off to try and get some sleep. At about 11:30pm the door was slung open and the guard pointed to the top bunk where a young Vietnamese woman got in..........to be continued