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Hello Everyone!
So having booked our tickets to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for 18$ we were told the 7hr bus ride would get us into HCMC at 5pm... LIES!
Bus was 30 mins late picking us up, were then had to cross the Cambodia/Vietnam border which was soooo shifty! we had to hand over 1$ to this guy for no apparant reason after already paying 45$ to get the visa in the first place! When i asked why he needed 1$ he shouted "NOW" at me so i quickly handed over my dollar!
They just took our passports & left the bus with them, lots of money was changing hands between the guards and we were a little on edge..
its odd having to get off the bus to walk through the border & get back on the bus again. It took about an hour in total and we continued onto Ha Tien, where we had to change bus. We didnt know this until we arrived in Ha Tien and were told to get off the bus! We had an hour wait until our next bus arrived so we sat down & started chatting to a dutch couple from Amsterdam - Eva & Jerry. They are doing the same route as us but in reverse minus India & Sri Lanka so they have been to alot of the places we are going...lots of tips & reccomendations! :)
Got on the next bus, by now there are 3 couples, all westerners, driven approx 10 mins to another bus station to get on another bus. Once on the bus, (actually more like a minivan( the driver told us we all had to sit at the back of bus. There was a bit of a Rosa Parkes moment when everyone refused to sit at the back of bus...why? i dont know... anyway Sam and I wimped out and retreated to the back of the bus... not a good start to Vietnam as it was getting quite confrontational! The other couple with us were Australian living in HCMC so they certainly weren't going to be pushed around! I could see us getting kicked off the bus at any moment!
We drove for about 2 hours, then another bus swap with a 30 min break for us to get some food, only we didnt have any Vietnamese currency so Sam & Jerry went off to find some Dong. :) We got some noodle soup & tried to scoff it down whilst going over pot holes in the road on the bus. Whilst we were getting food someone loaded our backpacks onto the bus but neither of us actually saw this so i was worried that they weren't going to be with us in HCMC...They were...Relief!
Bus went on a ferry for a bit & broke down slighly so Sam had to push the bus off the ferry, then the bus drove off without him. Eva went to the toilet in a shop when the bus was stopped and the bus also drove off without her on a seperate occasion... i dont think the bus driver liked us!
Anyway....got to Vietnam about Midnight, having left at 11am that morning. Our Guesthouse's reception stayed open for us as they usually close at 8pm...very sweet of them!
Our room was made for a midgit. Rich - You would hate it!
You have to bend down to get in the room & from the room to the bathroom. You also cant stand up straight anywhere in the room so we can basically lie down when we are in there & thats it! It was 8$ a night which is fairly reasonable for HCMC so we'll just have to make do for a few nights.
Went to the War Museum today - Very one sided & lots of grotesque photos of the damage of Agent Orange...lost of cool tanks & planes too!
Walked around a bit & got lost so were offered a lift in a one man Tuk Tuk kind of thing where they ctyle and your on a seat in front of them. They say 15,000Dong for us both which is about 75p It was quite funny until we got off anf they demanded 150,000 dong each! Sam got out his money and they wiped away 300,000 Dong. First thing in the morning, new country, we got riped off! They also said they'd wait for us to come out of the museum but when we came out they were nowhere to be seen! Suprise Suprise! We decided to walk the rest of the day as most of the places are in walking distance, we actually saw the guys that ripped us off again later when they tried to get us to ride with them again. We kind of confronted them and they said they has been waiting for us... we felt a slight bit better for confronting them, not so mugged off!
We walked all over the city for about 2hrs and after buying some pork meat & Quales egg steamed buns, we tucked into them to find the pork meat still raw....Off to KFC it was then! :) Luckily it was "Burger Tuesday" so we got a discount!
Promise we'll eat local street food tonight...I swear!
Off out for a few beers now....no pork buns though!
Lots of love
Vickey & Sam
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- comments
Party Boy Stu That pork meat could've killed someone! Haha. Good blogging guys...can't believe all that bus action...mumma mia.
Vickey It could have! we did think of the raw chicken moment in Cyprus! Bus trip was quite fun though in hindsight! xx
Dunc Wimp, WIMP?, my daughter a wimp, that's not the way you brought up Vicky ... on the other hand, discretion is the better part of valour. Stay safe
Jez Sounds like you're both learning the hard way....it's all good, you have to get ripped off a few times to get to recognise it next time! Hope the room isn't too bad. Place we stayed at in HCMC was god for about the same money i think? Vy Kanh guesthouse (hostelworld it). Next time they try to rip you off on one of those trikes, just pay what they originally said and leg it. You were right to agree on a price before you travelled....just remember you are seen as walking wallets when you're travelling; everyone will try their luck. Just tell Sam to give them the "screwface" and they'll back down! haha. Enjoy. Funny, out of all the countries, Vietnam surprised us the most when we went....not the friendliest place, but you do tend to get hassled less there. Much love you intrepid travellers! Look forward to thenext installment. (Oh, the beer over there... Saigon Beer - it's good..one is red and one is green, Red one tastes way better! xx)
Ben&Bee Hey guys, so you've been ripped ahh never great but all part of the travel experience. We were ripped off crossing border into Malaysia and also by a machete wielding coconut tree climber in Fiji! Raw pork meat and quale egg buns mmm tasty....don't forget to bring us back a couple of those bad boys! Looking forward to the next installment! xx
Sam I think being ripped off it a right of passage, still it was so annoying. Jez- I think the screwface is useless in these situations, if it doesn't work on bracelet sellers I don't think it would have worked on those two shysters. Maybe is only works on westerners? Hehe xx
Vickey Defo got some raw pork buns for you guys!! Were on 333 beer - mmmm!! Love you all & miss you all!! Xxxx
Jenny OMG when I first read this, now it sounds as though it could be a BBC sit-com. Just shows you that you need to keep your wits about you and an eye on your backpacks. I always knew the Aussies would come in handy for something !