Saigon Children’s Charity ride success!

Over the weekend of November 23rd to 25th 2013 29 riders set out from Hue City in Thua Thien Hue Province to ride three stages across the beautiful countryside of the Vietnam central coast. Day one was from Hue City to Lang Co, passing by the magnificent Tomb and enclave of Emperor Tu Duc along the way. The route followed a weaving trail of small paths and roads and culminated in everyone swimming in the surf at Lang Co. Day two, saw the group leave Lang Co and circumnavigate the lake to the west, then take on the task of riding the 11.4km up to the summit of the Hai Van Pass. The entire group rode the full distance to the top and congratulations to everyone for the effort was not without some suffering, through climbing the 8% roadway and heat from the scorching sun. Beautiful vistas and cold drinks awaited everyone at the summit. Of course the reward for all the climbing was the exhilarating downhill to Danang and a well deserved rest and meal in Danang city.
Day three took in the magnificent road to the ancient Cham temples at My Son. A magic place secluded in the mountains west of the coast. From My Son the riders returned to Hoi An, crossing the river by boat and arriving at the beach with time to spare for another dip in the surf of the East Sea.

All in all a huge success with over US$52,000 raised for the Saigon Children’s Charity,funds that will go towards sending underprivileged and homeless Vietnamese children to school, provide books and classrooms and buy bicycles for them to commute to school each day.

Great work by all involved and special thanks to the Vietnamese members of the group who suffered everything with the foreigners and made new friends along the way. We were all one team working for one goal, to help take care of kids in and around Saigon.