6am Start. Catch one Tuk-Tuk for 1 hour from Kampot, down Highway 3, turn off at the 5th village on the right. Wind though rice paddies, past tiny rural villages on a tiny dirt track, past the water buffalo's and kids yelling "HELLO" and into the middle of no-where, where the dirt track becomes too rough to continue. Take your pack and put it on the front of a Moto (125cc Yamaha Scooter), and ride as pasanger while the driver takes you further down this rock-hewn path until you reach...
The Cambodian /Vietnam Border near Hatieng.
Cross the borderwith mininal fuss (apart from a thorough customs inspector wanting to see our vaccination certificates). On the Vietnam side the dirt track is immediately replaced by a nice clean paved road. Get to the ferry terminal after 2 hours, only to find that the ferry left nearly an hour ago. Find another couple of Moto's "convieniently" hanging around to take you to another ferry, 1 hour away (for a small, yet not insignificant fee, of course).
Wait at the ferry dock for an hour in blistering heat while they unload a dozen more motos off the boat. Catch ferry for 1 and a half hours to Phu Quoc (Yes, it sounds like Phew Cock) island.
Watch while Vietnamese men get into a huge roaring fight overwho's going to take you to the beach resort side of the island, and finally catch a taxi (with some very nice German and Finnish boys) to Long Beach.
1 Tuk-Tuk, 2 Motos, 1 Ferry, 1 Taxi Van. 7 Hours.
Luckily Phu Quoc was truely paradise. Almost unspoilt, set in the turquiose waters of the Gulf of Thailand. Swinging Palm trees, golden sand. Really what we needed after the filth of Cambodia. We'd arrived in Vietnam at last!
We stayed on Phu Quoc for what seemed like a couple of days but turned out to be a week. During this time we sat under a beach umbrella, read our books, ate fresh seafood, boated to some tiny outer islands, went snorkelling, fishing, ate more seafood, drank local Rum, and generally recouperated and rested up. Michelle also got attacked by sea lice, but she's asusred me that its not as bad as one time in Auckland.
Finally we tired of all that, and decided it was time to make our way back to the mainland, so it was back to the taxis, motos, boats and busses for the trip up to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta.
So far it seems like every journey in Vietnam is going to involve at least one moto.
Can Tho is a stark contrast to Cambodian cities - almost spotlessly clean, or at least it feels like it, its a busy little hub of the Mekong. Despite many attempts of our erstwhile guest-house owner to get us to take the US$40 tour, we rented our very own boat and visited the lively local floating markets for a mere NZ$25.
Veitnam is so far very exciting, lively and colourful. We can't wait to see more. We're also really looking forward to meeting Tania's Dad in a couple of days, and catching up with Dave and Christine in a weeks time.
As always, Photos to follow.
Oh oh, and since its my blog, I wanna do a shout out... MaiFM Stylez
Wassup to my Brother Tone, and Brendano - hope studying is going good. Big Hi To Brendon Russell and the New Mrs Russell. Missing you guys. And a big yo-yo-yo to my peeps in London - see you guys in just over a month. Word up to the Haines (and Ex-Haines) crew, Ed Gaines, Dan P and Hopkins. Friday lunchbeers ain't the same by myself.
Ok thats me, love to all :)
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3 comments:
Wow Guys sounds like a fantastic adventure, is there any type of transport that you haven't been on?
All is good over here,looking forward to the Easter holiday:)
Woohoo, a shoutout! Right back at ya from the South side.
Leesa has filled you guys in on all our news so nothing much I can add there...except to mention that Jeff Tweedy sang Fake Plastic Trees.
Michelle, glad to hear you've recovered from that nasty bug!
ok... no one told me Jeff Tweedy was there. Pardon me while I sh#t myself
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