After eluding DVD hawkers and French tourists for a week in the backpacker boomtowns of Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City, exploring the marshy backwaters of Vietnam by bicycle seemed the perfect break. Traveling by bike affords a kind of eye-level communion you can’t get on a bus or train. What’s more, most of the delta’s roads are built atop narrow levees that were engineered by Ngyuen lords in the 16th century, so the only way to get around is by bike or boat.