Day Six - 26/11/25
The Crew at Muong Dinh Lodge
Today was a much slower, more relaxed day, exactly what we all needed. We had a little sleep-in before getting ready and heading out for a family bike ride. We didn’t have a plan, we just wandered along the nearby paths to see what we could find. The highlight (or lowlight?) was riding past a farm right as a guy was spraying his trees, and all of us getting coated in what we’re pretty sure was some kind of chemical. That wrapped up the bike ride pretty quickly.
Back at the room, we all jumped straight into showers before heading to breakfast, where we saw Ben, our cooking instructor from last night. He’s an awesome guy with a wild life story, amazing with the kids, and one of the best cooks we’ve met. He made us incredible omelettes, and I drank my body weight in Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. Not a single regret.
After breakfast, I jumped into some work. My internet connection was painfully slow, but I pushed through emails and got started on a job I need to finish. The kids got stuck into their schoolwork, Maddie wrote in her diary about Ho Chi Minh and the Mekong Delta, which was really cool to see, and Emmett smashed out some maths.
I also joined our work toolbox talk from here. It was funny watching everyone on the call react to the scooters screaming past and the background noise of the Mekong. Bit of a novelty for the team, I think.
By early afternoon, we decided to head out again for another bike ride, this time in search of lunch. We ended up at a little spot up the road where we had rice noodles with pork meatballs, wrapped in lettuce and herbs with a delicious dipping sauce. After that, we kept riding towards the local town, probably a good five kilometres or more, I should have recorded for Strava, and stopped at a small café.
No one there spoke English, so we used Google Translate to explain we just wanted drinks. They brought out iced jasmine tea, and we sat there having a laugh about the ride, the heat, and all the friendly locals we’d already waved to. Every house we passed, people were calling out hello and staring at us like we’d dropped in from Mars. When we went to pay for the tea, the owner wouldn’t take our money, I think he was just happy we were there. A really wholesome moment.
The ride back was fun, and when we returned to the hotel the kids wanted to chill. Kia jumped into some work, and I spent another couple of hours trying to make progress on the job I’ve been working on. I’ll have to finish it tomorrow.
We wrapped up the day with another amazing dinner cooked by Ben, then the kids spent a good while practicing their ninja skills on the big deck by the water. It’s such a beautiful spot, lights in the garden, water holes, swings, and friendly staff to chat with. We wandered around, had some laughs, soaked it all in, and eventually headed back to the room for showers and bedtime.
A slow day, but one of those quietly memorable ones.