Once again we started our day early as we are travelling overland to Cambodia. Everyone wake up early and as usual we had our delicious buffet breakfast at our hotel. We wait at our hotel lobby for our driver to send us to the VIP bus that will bring us all the way to the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Our driver was late but once we see our bus....we are delighted as it was really a huge bus.....and...there was less than 10 person on board. Ticket price is USD 7.50 per person and for that price we have no complain at all! Not going much into the details of this journey.....but the 7 hours plus journey to Phnom Penh is a great but tiring one! Here are some of the photo's taken through the bus journey!
Remarks:- The journey from Saigon, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia will bring you to some of the remote & poor town in both countries. The border crossing in Vietnam is called Moc Bai whereas the crossing in Cambodia is called Bavet. Immediately after you step into Cambodia you will witness dozens of Casino and hotels lining up at both left & right hand side of the road. Normally after crossing into Cambodia, you will stop for a lunch at a local restaurant but the foods here sucks & very expensive. Be ready to fork out USD 3.50 for a plain wantan mee or USD 4 for a plate of fried rice. Nevertheless it is an eye opener experience of a life time and this bus journey is the longest yet I"ve tried in my life! The longest bus ride ever in my life.........Cambodia overland to Laos!!
Day 2 Mekong Delta (My Tho - Ben Tre) We started the day early with everyone wake up at 6 am as we have a full day tour to the Mekong Delta.We have our buffet breakfast at the hotel cafe which was surprisingly good. We gathered outside our hotel at 8 am sharp and waiting for the tour bus to pick us up. Our schedule for the day are as follow:-
- arrived at the town of My Tho and boarded a motorized boat to Ben Tre -visited a coconut candy factory at local village....free tasting of coconut candy! -visited unicorn island -visited a honey bee farm and tried honey tea & rice wine with local fruits -lunch ala Vietnamese style -trekking along the village & meet the local people -cruise along small canal & horse drawn carriage or local transport "xe loi" -returned to My Tho by boat and transfer back to Saigon by bus.
All these amazingly for a mere USD 10 per person or RM 32.50!!
During this trip we met a lonely traveler from Denmark by the name of Jonathan....he has been in this part of the world Asia for some times. However the best part of the day is where my buddy Ong left my camera tripod on the island.....and he only realized it when I asked him where is my tripod on the way back to the mainland......he puzzled and replied OMFG.....I left it on the island! I replied....OMG...how can u forget about it..........luckily enough our kind tour guide...Mr.Loong....help me to locate it and best of all....told me to collect it back later at the tour office just a short walking distance from our hotel! Thank you very much Mr. tour guide.....u'll be remembered!
We are back to Saigon in the evening and soon after our shopping spree started with 2 of my buddy started to burn their money! I joined soon after....hahahaha...but limited damage for the day! I collected back my tripod at the tour office and yes it was right there when I arrived....after all Vietnam not really that bad....except some incident that happened tonight! We had our dinner later that night at some small lane which I don't see a foreigner at all except 3 of us......dinner was extremely cheap and good. All in RM20 for 3 of us....our cheapest meal in Vietnam!After dinner we walked around the town and the traffic at night was as chaotic as the busy afternoon in Saigon! We went back to the hotel after a short walk.....and Ong went to sleep earlier as he developed a pain on his leg!
I went to beef noodle supper again with Kelvin and this time I tried the braised beef noodle Vietnamese style....to my amaze...."WOW" extremely delicious and that's the best bowl of beef noodle I've ever ate in my life! I think it is because the taste of the noodle is too good...I forgot my hotel access card and left it at the noodle place.....worse still only recall it after 15 minutes.......run back to the noodle place....luckily it was still there....the staff keep it and kind enough to pass it back to me. Oh gosh...lucky day for the 2nd time! During our supper we saw a foreign tourist lost her hand bag after being snatched by motorcyclist! How unlucky she was.....and bear in mind this incident is a very common sight in Saigon...next time when you are there....be very extra careful and keep your eyes open!
Both of us went to have a drink at the local bar and hit a few bottles of beer before we called it a day and went back to our hotel. I have a good sleep and tomorrow is another long day....we are heading to Phnom Penh, Cambodia....my fifth visit to Phnom Penh.....and I am looking to meet up with a friend I've known for 5 years now! So far so good.......more to come in the next 10 days!
It was a great day indeed….everyone wake up on time exceptionally unbelievable especially Kelvin whom normally has difficulties to wake up early in the morning. By 6am we were already on board sky bus to LCCT terminal in Sepang. The journey was smooth and we all arrived at LCCT terminal at 7am. Checked in our individual back pack at the check in counter…..without much hassle but then….our first hiccups along the many on the way happened! Kelvin lost our journal log book…….but thanks god we eventually found it on top of a baggage x-ray scanner! We had out very first Trans Indochina breakfast at Old Town White Coffee…..but we made a big mistake….service was bad, food sucks and waiting time is long!
We walked past the immigration counter without much hassle and soon after we are already in the departure hall waiting to board our flight on 9am. Next we are informed that the flight is delayed due to some technical fault on board the new Air Asia Airbus A320-200. We only manage to board our plane after a 30 minutes delay…..happily enough we are on our way now to Ho Chin Minh City or Saigon. A country made famous by years of war with the Americans. We reached HCMC International airport approximately 11.30 am local Vietnam time. We collected our luggage and passed through the immigration counter without much delay and soon the first culture shock of the day occurred……….in waiting us in the arrival hall is thousands of Vietnamese waiting for their relative, friend, tourist etc etc! My team mate Ong roughly estimates the strong crowd at five thousand! For me it looks for like a demonstration or protest! We then board a taxi to our pre booked hotel Duc Voung hotel in District One or the backpacker’s district! Here there are plenty of guesthouses, backpacker’s lodge, and small hotel to cater for every individual backpacker! Our hotel was great, clean and service from the staff was compliment able! We take a short rest and take our bath before embarking on our mini city tour!
My first impression of Vietnam….a communist country with red flags hanging all over the city. A country with millions of motorcycle zooming all over the city but surprisingly accident is very rare! Indeed if I can recall well enough….I don’t see one! The sign of poverty is obvious and beware of snatch thief and pick pockets. We had our lunch at a local restaurant……noodles and rice. The weather is extremely dry and hot….I reckoned it at 36° Celsius. We relax our self after the lunch on top floor of the restaurant and admiring the daily life of the locals. After lunch, we walked again to the famous Ben Thanh market. It was similar to jatujak market in Bangkok but in a very much smaller scale. We do spend some time visited the Independence palace and witnessed the history in the past! Almost everything inside this place is kept as what it is since the end of the Vietnam War! After much walking…we decided that we need a nice place to chill out for the evening. We went to Trung Nghu Yenh cofffe shop. Coffee and cake is okay…..service is top notch…..price is equivalent to Starbucks! We spent almost the entire evening here chatting and discussing about our trip. Before we heade back to our hotel, we do a detour to a local saloon to have our hair wash, facial and massage. We badly need one as we roughly had a mere 2 hours sleep last night! By the way RM 1 is roughly equivalent to 5000 Vietnamese Dong. After the session at the saloon, we are rejuvenated and heading for our dinner at a local side street stall. Pricing is above average but food was so so only! Maybe we are tourist…..so what to do? Pay only la! After the dinner we walked back to the hotel and take some own sweet time relaxing, bathing, chatting and surfing on the net! We did had our supper at a beef noodle restaurant……..It was superb and xtralicious! I still remembered the taste till now…..if I ever go to Saigon again….I’ll go again for the beef noodle…..the stewed beef noodle taste is totally out of the world! We dozed off at 12am as we have a long day tomorrow! A one day Mekong Delta tour……here is where I am going to lost my camera Tripod…..all because of ??? To be continue on day 2 of our Trans Indochina 2010 trip!
The moment of truth is near....we are just 48 days away from our Transindochina 2010 tour. As final preparation is progressively ongoing....we shall be ready by end of January 2010. Our limited edition t-shirt specially designed by kelvin Lim is about to ready in a week time! I am anxiously waiting to see the final work!
The limited edition (100 pieces worldwide) will be available for good Samaritans that willing to donate RM 100 for the needy,poor,orphan & disable in Laos & Cambodia. So far the response has been good with many closed friend promised to donate! Guys & Gals....I would like to say thank you so much to you guys on the behalf of the beneficiaries!
I promised you guys.....I would take as many good photos as possible as my heartiest souvenir for you guys! I will also write as many updates as possible during my journey.......Life is short....I got to do something before I am old.....to help them is so meaningful to me.........at least I did myself proud as a human being........we travel, we party, we eat.......but "we see, we feel, we care & we help ". This is our motto for this trip.......I am really looking forward for it and hopefully I can make it an annual thing......because at the end of the day......we only need "IT" only when we are living!
