Cambodia to Vietnam: Easy peasy lemo- I have no idea what’s going on...

Our time in Cambodia was over and it was time to make our way to Vietnam. Seeing as they share a border we didn’t want to fly, we wanted to do as we’d done from Laos to Cambodia and just walk across the border. Our final stop in Cambodia was Kratie, which is pretty close to the Vietnam border. We’d read blogs saying it was possible to get across using a mishmash of buses, tuk tuks and anything else you could get your hands on, but when you asked locals about transport they were saying we needed to go back to Phnom Penh, a good 5 hours away. It was a no from us. It IS doable without going back through Phnom Penh- here’s how you do it in 7 completely unsimple steps...

Step 1: Book a £3 bus from Kratie to Snoul

Step 2: Haggle a tuk tuk down to £3 from where the bus stops to take you to the border and immigration control

Step 3: Immigration will make your boyfriend empty out his ENTIRE bag onto the floor.

Step 4: Walk into the middle of nowhere with bags like a pack horse, have an unintelligible conversation with a local trying to put you on a motorbike which is entirely lost in translation

Step 5: Continue walking in searing heat

Step 6: Find a little cafe, use google translate to ask about a taxi

Step 7: Find a jolly family member of said cafe to put you in his pick up truck and take you to Loc Ninh, pay him £4

Step 8: Hop aboard the local bus to Ho Chi Minh for £6

MADE IT!

Yes it was a bit of a leap of faith and a complete mishmash, but it was an adventure and it only cost us £15 to get to a new country. Winner.

Ho Chi Minh City

Yes, we’d made it, and here we were in Vietnam’s second largest city. We were only here 1 night but we still had time for a little bit of exploring. First task: to cross the road. Honestly, what a bloody mission. The traffic is MAD here. There are some zebra crossings but they appear to mean aaaabsolutely nothing. You’ve just got to cross your fingers and hope you make it to the other side in one piece. We’d heard that the War Remnants museum was really informative and so that’s what we spent our day doing and it was definitely worth it. 3 floors detailing Vietnam before, during and after the war, there’s lots of photos and tonnes of information alongside them. It gave us a really good understanding of what this country went through, but be warned there’s some tough reads and some pretty graphic and distressing photos. But it’s so important people see these photos as a reminder of what humans can do to each other, and so that it never happens again. For the second time in a month I felt pretty down about humanity, but the difference this time was that so, so many people spoke out against the war, including the American soldiers themselves who refused to fight. There’s a whole floor dedicated to peace- humans who restored my faith in humanity. If you’re in Vietnam I definitely recommend a few hours here to get to grips with what happened in this lovely little country.

Sleep: Giang Son 3- this place is within walking distance of lots of things and has clean rooms with air con and hot water BUT it is also right off of pub street so if you can’t sleep on the floor of a club, chances are you couldn’t sleep here either. Praise be ear plugs.

Eat: Bun Bo Nam Bo- this place serving Vietnamese dishes is super cheap, serving a drink, starter and main for £3

Nha Tu- Another spot for cheap Vietnamese dishes, just off the park and pretty close the the museum if you’ve worked up an appetite with all of the reading.

Drink: D Bar- this little place is just behind the market and has a rooftop bar, chilled atmosphere and a happy hour.

So there we have it, Vietnam Step One. Next stop: Mui Ne