To leave Phu Quoc Island we took the ferry service to Ha Tien on the mainland of Vietnam. After checking out the hotel we took a pre-organised bus from Duong Dong town to the ferry port on the opposite side of the island. The journey wasn't too bad and it was nice to travel through the island and see parts of the national park in the distance, even if the driver and his friend tried to scam us into getting a taxi rather than the bus as we would miss our ferry. Sadly this is why we never trust anyone that comes up and talks to us, there is always a hidden motive to get more money off you.

The ferry was reasonably small with two levels of assigned seats, we didn't get window seats but you couldn't see out of them anyway they where so high up. Nicole isn't great on boats so the 30 minute waiting sitting on a rocking boat was not welcomed. But it was smooth sailing once it set off and we got free water! The ferry was full up of curious locals watching us stumble onto the boat and find our seats. Luckily we weren't centre of attention for too long as a large group of young monks dressed in orange robes climbed aboard to steal our thunder. What a shame! Throughout the journey they played an old film on the two large screens, we couldn't hear what the characters where saying but the film was pretty funny. The locals were cracking up at all the slap stick comedy of them hurting themselves. That cracked us up even more, they were loving it!

The ferry arrives on the opposite side of the river to Ha Tien town, great planning ferry port people! Without a near bridge to walkover we had to opt for a taxi to take us to the hotel. Now the hotel was interesting, number one we had the fastest check in we have ever had, number two the lift made worrying noises when taking us to our floor, number three I think we where actually given one of there best rooms! It looked out onto the river, which was lovely until 4am in the morning when your woken up by boats horns blaring non stop. The room was large with a Brighton cheap seaside feel with the decoration and the bathroom was a mouldy limescale mess. When walking in and out of the hotel we could never seem to work out who worked at hotel and who was a guest as no one smiles they just stare. A very interesting one nights stay, but it did the job for £10 (which is actually a bit expensive for what it is in Vietnam).

Ha Tien as a town reminded us of Dong Hoi, where we saw the caves, with its nicely decorated promenade looking onto the river, which was used by lots of locals in the even for eating and gathering. The lovely colourful colonial buildings were back, which we missed from the westernised Phu Quoc and a bit of Ho Chi Minh. You could see that the town was a local place with the odd hotel and only one western cafe. It was a great change and we enjoyed walking around watching locals cycling and getting on with their day. Though we did get the odd stare, but most people said hello to us and looked away.

From Ha Tien we booked a bus to the Cambodian boarder crossing, which would then take us to Kep our first destination. The bus company was run by a energetic French Vietnamese lady who was definetly a character! We hopped on a small minibus crammed full of tourists and waited at the boarder building for an hour after the company handed over our passports and paper work. Our guide was running back and forth between the Vietnamese and Cambodian boarders organising not just our paper work out also another groups coming in through Cambodia. While waiting we got to know a very laid back American backpacker who was completely unfaised about the hour wait and our lack of passports. But we also met a English couple who were complete opposites, worring and grumbling the whole time, they even had a go at our guide about the whereabouts of our passports. She wasn't too happy about that as she chucked the bag of them at the couple when she finally got them back from the Cambodian officials. The lady then let her anger out on the poor innocent American who just asked her if he needed a yellow piece of paper. Sadly we had to share a minibus with this enjoyable couple to our first destination, we think they might need a little break from south east Asia to cool off.

So this is the end for Vietnam. After one whole month traveling unplanned down the country we have learnt alot about what we want from our trip away. But also we have loved Vietnam, its been one of the most beautiful countries we have been to. The colours, sights, sounds smells have all been amazing. The food has been absolutely delious and we will never forget our memories of Hanoi, Ha Long, Dong Hoi and Hoi An. Although the south of the country seems to be becoming more western, it still has small pockets of local Vietnam's charm. But we would also suggest no one visit Phu Quoc its just not Vietnam at all!

On a more positive note we are definetly ready for a new country to explore, hello Cambodia!