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Day 110 -
Today we left Sihanoukville after four days of relaxation. We were also leaving Cambodia which was sad really because this has been one of our favourite places so far. Anyway new country, new adventure, Can Tho, Vietnam here we come!
We got a mini bus that took us on a very bumpy ride to the Cambodian/Vietnamese border, Hat Tien.
Once we got there we both got the impression that this is going to be one of those days. Where you would imagine a border between two countries to be relatively conspicuous, this border was simply a control gate (with no control) and once you stepped through it you were in Vietnam - simple I suppose!Well no, not quite simple. This 'border' was in the middle of nowhere with no means of transport apart from horrible motorbikes that we really didn't want to go on. Apparently, there are no tuk tuks in Vietnam and as much as the tuk tuk drivers have annoyed us in all of the previous countries we've visited we really wished that there was one here right now!
Anyhow after a lot of humming and haring we had to get on the back of the bikes. The slimy crooks riding the bikes charged us US$7.00 each too for what they said was an hours journey which actually turned out to be about 15 minutes. We had no choice though!! There was a German couple with us too and they got bummed as well.
Now this is where it all started going downhill. The men on the bikes said they would take us to the bus station but where they actually took us was a dusty car park with not a bus in sight. Surprisingly there was another man who just happened to be standing in this car park and how fortuitous it was for us that he just so happened to be the bus station secretary (do they exist?) and was ready to give us all the information we needed on where we actually catch the bus from.
The motorbike drivers didn't hang around anyway. So now we were left with the secretary and a new bunch of motorcyclists happened to appear ready to now take us to the new location for catching the bus.
Again it was one of those. Either go with these lot of bandits knowing full well that what they are saying is complete bull or hang around in a deserted car park hoping that a bus comes along.
Of course we went with the crooks, ha who wouldn't? On our behalf, the German couple who were with us were a lot older than Anth and I so we automatically presumed that they would have more common sense than us and they were all up for going so we just followed them.
So off we go again on the back of some new bikes and if we thought we were in the middle of nowhere before well, that was nothing compared to where we ended up now!!
Oh my god! Where the frig are we!?!? The slimy, scummy, cheesy s***head had taken us to the land of NOWHERE and now said that we need to pay him 500,000Dong (like GBP23.00) each to get the next bus. Well the bloody Germans looked dumbstruck as ever, they had a Vietnamese Lonely Planet with them that said the journey to Can Tho from Hat Tien should cost GBP2.00! For God's sake, well we had to bloody pay didn't we!? I swear to god I hope that 'secretary' (ha my arse!) suffers guilt pangs for the rest of his life!
Well at least the bus came, well a tin can on wheels I should say, and we got to experience real travelling with the locals, chickens 'n' all.
The bus journey was the most smelly, sweaty and boring experience I've ever had to endure and we ended up getting off in the next sort of main town after 6 hours travel otherwise it would have taken us a further 8 hours which was just not an option in our eyes.
So the four of us got off at Chau Doc and were happy to see many other tourists about.
We found somewhere to stay in no time and booked an OFFICIAL bus to Can Tho for tomorrow morning.
Thank god today is over! We just hope that this won't be a reflection on the rest of Vietnam!
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