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It was time to leave Cambodia and embark on our second land border crossing. We had been warned that passing into Vietnam was a very corrupt system and we had managed to acquire a last minute visa through paying an underhand company in Cambodia. We were plied with free breakfast on the bus before the bus hostess took all of our passports. It was a four hour journey to the border. First stage was to get out of Cambodia, which was surprisingly easy, we were then bussed to the Vietnam border through no man's land. We had to get off the bus, and walk with all our luggage into the Vietnamese immigration building. Inside we had to wait for our name to be called. During this time, they came and told two of our group that their visa was wrong and they would have to pay to get through, they were offered no further explanation. Their visas were exactly the same as the rest of the group. Thankfully our names were called, we were let through.
On arrival we immediately spotted the differences with Cambodia. Vietnam is much more developed with smooth roads, tended central city gardens and all motorcyclists wear helmets. There are an awful lot of motorcyclists though, it's like a sea of them lining the streets. Crossing the road is interesting, we were advised to walk in slow motion, no sudden movements and just go for it. Claire screamed the entire way the first few times as she slowly manoeuvred across six lanes of constant motorcycle traffic.
That night we went for our last supper with the group. After South East Asian food solidly for the last two weeks we all decided we fancied a change and instead went for classic Vietnamese Mexican food...and it wasn't awful. Julian, our designated voice, made an emotional speech to our guide, Fila, about how much we'd all enjoyed the experience and what a fantastic job he'd done. He genuinely seemed quite touched by the words, and the tip we had put together helped broaden his smile. A few cheap drinks in a side street with the more adventurous of the group before we said our farewells. It was sad to leave everyone but at the same time we were excited to make our own way in the big bad world of Vietnam.
We took an afternoon trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, our guide was a 66yr old Vietnamese war veteran who had fought on the side of the Americans. He was generally racist and brash, particularly when exclaiming to the American on the tour 'your government f*#%ed it all up'. A little awkward but added another dimension of interest. The tunnels were tiny and incredibly hot, we heard first hand stories and wandered around the terrain where the war was fought. It was interesting to have our guide's perspective having fought against those in the tunnels. They are presented by the Vietnamese government as a place of a great Vietnamese victory with a lot of lies and propaganda being told about the American troops and what happened (eg baby massacring). The guide provided contrasting stories to the official ones when he was sure there were no other Vietnamese in earshot.
We checked into a guesthouse where the delightfully nice and beautiful owner gave us the local low down and highlights. That evening we went for the best pho (beef noodles) in Saigon, they were also probably the fastest as we had walked there, ordered, eaten and walked back within 45 minutes. They were truly delicious though.
The following day we went for a full day on the Mekong Delta. We were bussed there and were shepherded onto a longboat. The shepherding turned out to be the theme of the day. As it is such a popular tourist spot the companies have capitalised (funny expression to use as it is a communist country) on this by essentially conveying hundreds of tourists through. The whole experience felt forced and in no way genuine. It was interesting to see a honey farm on one of the islands and a coconut sweet 'factory' on another, but the swarms of other tourists took any magic away from what could be a beautiful area of the country. We were also forced onto a 'tranquil' boat trip down one of the small island rivers that lead to the delta. We were herded, along with two others, on to a boat where a Vietnamese man and woman would paddle us 2km. We had the classic Vietnamese hats given to us to wear (the lamp shade ones) and were swept along on a packed river, banging and bashing other boats as we went. Greg was handed an oar and forced to paddle whilst Claire was persistently told by the lady rowing us how poor she was, how difficult rowing every day was and being asked how much she was going to tip. All in all it wasn't the highlight of our trip so far and has taught us to be wary of the big tourist hot spots.
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