This is when our holiday took an unexpected turn. After saying goodbye to our hosts we set off by boat for a relaxing visit to the floating markets in the morning. This is the heart of trade in the Mekong and we saw all types of produce being exchanged along with some very intricate bartering.

We hen set off on the next leg of our bike trip. Like yesterday we went through more villages, met more locals and saw some great scenery in this beautiful area. In the Mekong there are many small bridges over waterways, which require a bit of concentration to negotiate while also looking out for motorbikes, pushbikes and the odd pedestrian.

It was on one of these bridges, about 1km from the end of our trip, that Wendy misjudged and fell off her bike and into the water. I heard a loud scream behind me and a crashing sound as the bike fell on top of her. We quickly got the bike out of the way and had to assess the situation. After some good advice from Marge about checking for injuries we decided we could not move her immediately. Our tour guide and the locals banded together with offers of help and were able to find an old lady with a boat that came to assist. We carefully lifted her onto the boat and were able to get her on dry land. Her leg was bent at an unnatural angle and she was in a lot of pain. We carefully lifted her onto a shiny red motorbike to take her to the bus to begin the trip back to Ho Chi Minh City, which was the most reliable English speaking medical care.

After a very stressful 4 hour bus ride, with Wendy in a lot of pain, we arrived at the hospital and Wendy was taken in immediately. After X-rays and a CT scan they determined she had a dislocated hip and had to call on a French orthopedic surgeon to help. We were very pleased to know that there were no broken bones and that he was able to reset her hip effectively under anesthetic.

Having Marge and Dave in town was invaluable as Marge kindly offered to stay with the kids in our hotel while I stayed with Wendy at the hospital for the night. Luckily I was able to book a couple of extra nights at the same hotel we stayed in earlier.