Yesterday was our very final
overland border crossing on our round-the-world trip! We made it into Vietnam without any issue, visa or transporation-wise, thank goodness.
The bus ride from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam took approximately 7 hours. The roads were much better than our unpaved road bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. We heeded the advice of many and chose Mekong Express Limousine bus company at $13/pp (really, $12/pp but our hotel got a $1/pp commission) instead of the cheaper $5/pp bus rides. The bus was clean and basic. They gave us a free snack, water, and wet wipe. Our luggage was tagged for security. We stopped once for a 25-minute lunch break, right before the border crossing. Weirdly, their 3 company goals were posted
in Japanese inside the bus: (1) Avoid accidents (2) Reduce idling (3) Excellent customer service. Hmmm.
Cambodia is still working on their infrastructure. One of the things still lacking are bridges that span the wide Mekong River. There's one nice bridge called the Japanese Friendship bridge, which the Japanese donated. Aside from that, much of the river crossing occurs via ferry.
The border crossing itself was painless. Except, our bus attendant collected all of our passports from us and gave them directly to the Vietnamese border patrol. Then, we had to wait around while they called our names after they stamped our visas. Rather a cluster, but whatever.
Here's a few photos from our travel day!
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| Mekong Express Limousine bus tickets |
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| Mekong Express bus. We got picked up by a small van at our hotel, then taken to their bus station. |
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| A little breakfast snack |
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| Inside the snack box. Cream puff (yum), and fish filled pastry (not so yum). |
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| Lots of food vendors selling to the waiting vehicles at the ferry terminal. Waiting to cross the Mekong River. |
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| 4 young ladies, standing around, chatting/gossipping with a head full of food! |
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| Boarding the ferry to get across the Mekong River. |
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| We didn't have to get off the bus. View of the Mekong River from the bus. |
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| Border crossing ahead. |
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| About to cross into Vietnam! |
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| Our bus attendant with a stack of passports. |
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| Vietnamese visa, which must be obtained prior to the border. There is no visa service at the border. We got these during our stay in Thailand. We planned on going to the Vietnam Embassy in Bangkok, but our hotel provided the visa service. Score. |
In Ho Chi Minh City, we are staying in backpacker central - Pham Ngu Lao area in District 1. It's very lively, lots of small bars and restaurants. We had our first
bia hoi (beer), Bia Saigon Lager (large bottle for 60 cents!) at a roadside bar full of short plastic chairs facing the bustling street. There are literally, dozens of vendors walking by, selling whole dried squid as a beer snack. So, when in Rome...ahem, Vietnam...we sampled some squid. It reminded Akiko of Japan, sans the chilli sauce that it came with. Basically, fish jerky is what it tasted like.
