Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Expedition Route & Itinerary

Our 9-day cycling route begins in the southern coastal city of Nha Trang and heads west northwest, inland toward the Central Highlands and the coffee-growing provincial capital, Buon Me Thuot. From there, we’ll cycle south and east, through lush, serene valleys and over a few challenging mountain passes, to Dalat, a cool, tranquil alpine redoubt that has long been a cool-climate retreat for Vietnamese (and, in the colonial era, French expatriates) from the steamy Saigon.

Daily cycling mileage and terrain will, of course, vary in the rugged and lesser-seen regions of the southern Central Highlands, considered Vietnam’s breadbasket and home to dozens of ethnic minority tribes. Our route and our schedule will give us the opportunity to meet, talk with and hopefully share a meal or two with members of these minority communities. 

Expedition Cost & Timeframe

This adventure philanthropy expedition begins as you arrive on Saturday, Oct. 24, in Nha Trang, on the southern central coast. Connections to Nha Trang are easily made through Ho Chi Minh City. Flying from North America will require, therefore, a Friday departure to arrive in Vietnam on Saturday. After a good night’s rest, our cycling trek will begin the following morning, Sunday, Oct. 25. We will be cycling along our route each day forward, to Buon Me Thuot and eventually arriving in Dalat on Oct. 31 or Nov. 1, depending on our progress.

Nov. 2 will be a transition day, including a domestic flight from Dalat through Ho Chi Minh City to Rach Gia, where our volunteer project will begin the following day. We’ll work for four days, from Nov. 3 through Nov. 6, building our playground for the children of Rach Gia.

The expedition cost is $3,200, not including international air transportation and visa, and not including the relatively inexpensive domestic flight from Dalat to Rach Gia. The cost includes all but a few meals—when expedition members are on their own for a half-day or day to explore a city or town—and includes all lodging at clean, if sometimes basic hotels while we’re in the further reaches of the Central Highlands. The domestic flight from Dalat to Rach Gia is not expected to cost more than $130.

Vietnam Expedition 2010

Cycling the Central Highlands + Building a Playground in the Mekong Delta

Sunday, Oct. 24 to Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010

This adventure philanthropy expedition, Roadmonkey’s third in Vietnam since 2008, will comprise nine days cycling through the picturesque, rolling southern Central Highlands, followed by a four-day, hands-on volunteer project. Our project on this adventure philanthropy expedition is building the first-ever playground for children from an impoverished and severely disenfranchised ethnic Khmer community in the Mekong Delta.

Our non-profit partner for this project is the U.S.-based Catalyst Foundation.

Our Volunteer Project

After we complete our 270-mile Central Highlands cycling adventure, we’ll fly from Dalat through Ho Chi Minh City (the official name for Saigon) to Rach Gia, a provincial capital in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Rach Gia is where Team Roadmonkey begins its 4-day volunteer project, building a playground from locally available materials—wood, rope, bolts, rubber, joists, chain, etc. We’ll work with members of a local ethnic Khmer community that is facing severe educational, health and economic challenges.

Many of the children of this Khmer minority community live without roofs over their heads and walk several miles to and from school each day. Our hard work on their behalf, and in coordination with the Catalyst Foundation—Roadmonkey’s non-profit partner for this expedition—is intended to bring a lasting bit of joy, human connection and social interaction to the kids and their families. 

You need not know construction to be a productive playground builder! You need only be willing to work hard, for several hours a day in the Delta’s steamy subtropical climate, to be successful in your efforts on behalf of these kids.

    Photos of the 2009 Vietnam Expedition’s Farm-building Project

Lodging & Food

The food we’ll encounter along our route promises to be healthy, fresh and delicious, particularly in this section of Vietnam. Vegetarians and meat eaters each do quite well in Vietnam, if you are willing to try eating as close to local as is healthy for you. If you have don’t have much experience eating in non-tourist restaurants in developing countries, we advise that you begin this expedition eating to your fill but avoiding pre-cut fruit and vegetables or shellfish, at least for the first few days. 

Expedition members can expect single rooms in superior hotels on the first and and last nights of our journey, to provide a soft landing upon arriving in Vietnam and some much-needed downtime after two weeks on the road. During our week or longer of cycling, we’ll be staying by necessity in clean but basic hotels, as we plan to ride through areas that don’t see many foreigners in need of a hotel. 

When & Where to Arrive & Depart

For this expedition, please schedule your international flights to arrive in Nha Trang on or before Saturday, Oct. 23, and to depart from Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, Nov. 7 or thereafter.