Miles To Go Before We Can Rest

  Chau Doc, Vietnam
April 28, 2009

We were up at 5:30 to shower and pack. We were able to catch a couple of innings of NY vs our beloved Tigers! We saw my Tiger Polly score!! (We checked the score later, we won 4-2, but lost 11-0 the next day; sounds like Brandon is tearing it up, I predict he will turn into a Chris Shelton before long...)

We were picked up at 7:00 by 2 motorbikes (that is a first for us). I am not sure that the drivers, our bags and the 2 of us will fit, but it does. I guess if a family of six can fit, so can we... with room to spare too. My bag is so full that the driver had to tip his head back to drive - poor guy!

We were dropped off and then transferred into a minivan with 10 others. It took us longer than expected to get to the boat, around 1 hour and 20 minutes. The houses were on really high stilts along our driver, there was lot of palm trees too.

We arrived at Neak Uoung Ferry stop at 8:50 and the 10 of us boarded a boat around 9:10. We have a driver and a stewardess who has a cooler of drinks and snacks for sale. The seats were plastic and were fastened to the floor, so we could not move them around even though the boat was a little more than half full. We were even able to purchase some dong with US dollars. We were able to get $1 USD for 17,000 dong. The Mekong was quite wide and there was not a lot to see, just the occasional house, some kids swimming and a few fishermen.

Around noon we were escorted off the boat to exit Cambodia. They had us in and out in no time. I bought a Coke Light from a little girl just before we re-boarded.

A 10 minute boat ride later we were at the Vinh Xoung (sounds like Vin Song) customs office. We had to remove all of our bags from the boat and were able to have lunch while they processed our paperwork. I had noodle soup with beef and Bill had rice with chicken and a Coke ($7).

We boarded a different boat (this is now mode of transportation 4) with a Vietnamese driver and tour guide. This boat is narrower, only 1 seat per side, but the seats are more comfortable. The boat turned (do boats turn?) onto the Mekong Delta. The waterway is more narrow and is very peaceful. There were no towns along our Cambodia portion of the trip, but there are plenty along the Delta. There are lots farms, gardens and homes on stilts - either wooden or bamboo with thatch roof or tin roof. There were lots of people along the waterfront too - naked kids, swimming, doing laundry, fishing, bathing, washing water buffalo,... I saw my first field of corn in SE Asia. We crossed under the monkey bridge. It is called that because if you do not concentrate, you will fall into the water. It was made of tree trunks and had slats like a ladder . There was not much to it.

We arrived in Chau Doc, Vietnam after 3:00. Our bags were loaded onto a cyclo (three-wheeled bicycle with a seat for passengers) and walked to the tour office. So far we have been on the move for 6 hours and have another 4 hours until we get to Ho Chi Minh City (or so we thought). We saw a sign saying that the minivan would take 6 hours and the tour guide confirmed that it would. Crap! I used the toilet there and had a cold water, Bill had his first Saigon Beer.

I am noticing that there are only motorbikes and commercial vehicles on the streets here. It is a nice little place, but not really set up for tourism. It looks like an ordinary town that has to put up with tourists because of their location. I am loving the helmets (and impressed that they wear them, well adults do, not the kids - that is my new million dollar idea, so don't steal it or I will sue!); I saw one that was white and had pink flowers. This town is much cleaner and way less hectic than Phnom Penh. We are also happy that we can read signs - the alphabet is the same (they have accents too though).

We were picked up by a mini, minivan and taken all of 2 blocks to the minivan station. The vehicle that we boarded is actually a 16 passenger Sprinter. We boarded with one other older lady. My stomach has been unsettled, so I decided to take gravol (ended up being a good decision). I was shocked when we left with only the 3 of us. We did pick up a lady, who was very chatty and giggly, and an older man before we left the town though. A half an hour later we picked up another guy.

After a while we stopped at a bus station and waited for a while. We ended up not picking anyone up. Further on our journey we were waved down by a family of 3, who talked really loud and the baby had a cold, and finally 1 additional guy. We ended up being a load of 11, so we never had to give up the seat beside us. I missed out on some of this because the gravol kicked in pretty good. I slept on and off for 4 hours, so Bill had to fill me in on some of these details.

Around 6 pm we crossed the river on a ferry (mode of transportation #7). After this the road became really rough. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when you head is bouncing off the head rest??? It is tough, but I managed in my drug induced state.

We stopped at 8 pm for 1/2 hour. We had a pee break and I had a Chinese bun with pork, but did not like the seasoning, so just mostly ate bun. Bill saw a case of chocolate coins for sale, they were a Canadian quarter!

We missed the rain, but 1 lane of the road was flooded in spots.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 11:20 (7 hours and 20 min later - dang!). The driver was taking drop off requests from Vietnamese people, but dumped us off at some designated spot, but there were no tuk tuks or taxis and it was raining. We walked up to the corner and woke up a taxi driver. He did not know where our hotel was and did not even understand what we were saying. We wrote down the name of the hotel, Asian Ruby, but that did not help. We flagged down another driver and got the same response. Bill did not know the address of our hotel, but knows it is in District 1, so he pulled out a guide book and pointed to a an intersection that should get us close.

Please note: the metered taxi was mode of transportation #8 and I did not include the cyclo for our bags or walking to the tour office from the boat dock.

We arrived in District 1, but have not seen our hotel. Finally the driver called dispatch, but they have no clue either. The driver starts driving again and goes by Asian Ruby 2. The bell hop is able to give him the address for their sister hotel! Hurray!! Thank you St Christopher! Bill was right, we are only off by half a dozen blocks.

It was after midnight by now and we have been traveling since 7 am! While checking in I waited in the elevator with the bell hop. He was admiring my hat from Vientiane for a long time, so I ended up giving it to him as a tip.

Bill was hungry so we found a spot that was still open called Japan No 1. I had fried dumplings and Bill had rice with chicken. They gave us some veggie soup too. It was pretty good. I think we are going to have some good food in this city!

We went back to the hotel and crashed. The bed is not too hard! Yeah!