Good Morning Vietnaaaam

As much as I was loving the beach in Cambodia, I decided I best keep moving and check out Vietnam while I'm in the area. The trip from Sihanoukville in Cambodia to Saigon is normally 14 hours via bus. Unfortunately there is no real option to fly or train it. The thought of a whole day spent on a cramped bus was not too appealing so when 2 Aussie girls who are living and teaching in Saigon told me there was a shortcut that they were gonna do and would only take 6 or 7 hours, I was well up for it. This is a brief summary of the trip:

1. Luxury Toyota Camry for the first 2 hours. Aircon, music, good roads, lovin it.
2. Road gets bad so we're told to climb into 1970 something clapped out skedonk. Sorry - only climb in once the locals have push started it. Car never manages to go more than about 30km an hour. Windows broken. Driver no speaka da English. Get to boom in road and driver kicks us out.
3. Cross border into Vietnam by foot (1 hour)
4. Walk 500m in blazing sun while we get the motorbike taxi riders to slowly drop their price. Started at 10USD and dropped 1 dollar for every 100m we walked and made them chase us. Backpack goes between driver's legs and my huge travel bag goes between myself and the driver so I was basically hanging onto the very back of the seat by my nads! Luckily I managed to get my hand at the back and grip on the indicator light too so when he hit the many bumps I didn't make an early dismount. Drove 25km like this!! He was goin about 90kmh overtaking buses on blind corners etc. We had 2 real close calls and even he gave a few nervous laughs. Decided best not to watch and rather count the number of times he hooted at other bikes and cars to pass the time. In 5 minutes I counted 72 times! I think he's in the Vietnamese Hooting Team! Serious talent that!
5. Hootie decides to make up for the cheap fare by trying to scam us by dropping us off at a bus company for the last leg where he gets a huge commission. Price starts off at 3 times normal so we decide we've had enough and leg it on foot to try find the main bus station. 1 km later we decide to regroup and rethink the plan.
6. Jump on local taxi bike to try find the bus station. Driver can't speak a word of English other than 1 Dollar and yes. Eventually find it. Drive back to others to let them know and pick up stuff.
7. Jump on new taxi bike with all my gear again.
8. Find a local minibus company that has 1 spare seat leaving in 2 minutes. Next one with 3 seats was in 2 hours so the Aussies tell me to take it. No worries they say - it's only about 2 hours to Saigon. Jump in - only Westerner and nobody speaks a word of English. They all turn around and point and laugh at me - no jokes. I laugh at myself too. 3 hours later I manage to ask the old dude next to me how much longer it is to Saigon. 4 hours it sounds like. Can't be right! Unfortunately after 4 more hours we still weren't there! Another hour later and I finally arrive in Saigon.
9. Only Westerner at the bus station and a million taxi and bike drivers are fighting for my business. Still manage to get ripped off a few dollars and arrive at my destination 15 hours since starting! Wish I'd just taken the bus cos it would have been a lot cheaper and a lot less stressful. Poor Aussie girls were still another 2 hours behind me and in a big bus which would have been a lot slower too.

Anyway, I made it to Saigon and amazing how different it is to Cambodia. Much richer country and waaaaay more people!! Really amazing how crowded the streets are and the traffic is ridiculous. Spent the first day recouperating and then decided to do a day trip to the Mekong Delta (huge river system).
















The day after that I visited the Cu Chi tunnels (200km network of underground tunnels the Vietnamese used in the war). All I can say is that I would have hated to be a US soldier there cos those tunnels were really effective. Enemy just disappears in front of you and pops up behind you. And I'd hate to have been a Vietnamese soldier cos those tunnels are really, really, really tiny and ridiculously hot. I climbed through one of the bigger ones and it was pretty hectic. Not quite as hectic as seeing photos of the victims of Agent Orange and all the other chemicals though! Americans really messed this place up and the Vietnamese aren't too keen to let them forget it!


I'm running out of time in Vietnam fast so decided to skip the East Coast beaches and head up north to check out Hanoi and HaLong Bay. It's a 24 hour bus ride which is 20 hours more than my new limit so flew into Hanoi this afternoon and I'm off for a 3 day mission to the islands tomorrow.

For those of you in London I will be back from 3rd March to 11th so hope to catch up with you all soon!

Sticker on local minibus door.