We are in Vietnam! On Thursday (12th) we caught
the Mekong Express Limousine Bus (it wasn’t much like a limousine) from Siem
Reap to Ho Chi Minh City, with a brief stop in Phnom Penh to change buses. Overall the journey took about 14
hours, including a slightly late start, a brief stop in Phnom Penh to change
buses, a bus breakdown (aircon not working, heaven forbid!), a short ferry
crossing and passing thru the border into Vietnam. We got to District 1 of HCMC (aka backpacker central) around
9pm and set about finding some accommodation for the night… no problem at all,
there were hundreds of places nearby!
Can’t go too far wrong with US$13 a night, and the place was basic but
clean. The traffic in HCMC is
crazy… there are so many scooters,
push bikes and cars, and traffic seems to be going every which way, but somehow
things flow and we didn’t see any accidents! The horn also seems to be a crucial part of driving, it is
used frequently and can mean anything from “get out of my way idiot” to
“careful, don’t pull out in front of me” and many more!
The next morning we wandered
around HCMC for a bit before heading to the airport to catch a short flight to
Danang. Someone from the hotel
picked us up and drove us the 30km to the small town of Hoi An where we are
staying for the next few days. Hoi
An is very cute, it was a trading port with Chinese, Japanese and European
influences, and has lots of narrow laneways and some really cool
architecture. At night it is
beautifully lit with fairy lights and lanterns.
Today we hired bicycles and rode
the 4km to the beach.
Unfortunately it was blowing a gale and we ended up getting sand
blasted, so we headed back to town but somehow missed the turn off (all the
streets look the same!) and ended up riding thru local villages and rice
paddies with local kids shouting hello when we passed by! It was a nice ride though, and we finally
made it back after about 2 hours!
For the rest of the day we wandered through town looking at the markets
and shops, and tonight we ate yummy Cao Lau (a local speciality of noodles and
pork in a broth) and rice paper rolls, and also got some great night photos of
the Hoi An Old Town.
