Day 119 – Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
Bus journey from Cambodia to Vietnam
Today we were picked up by the Mekong Express minivan at 7:30am at Cool Wrong Hostel. The minivan picked up a few more people and we got to the bus stop around 8:30am, which was the scheduled departure time. The staff gave us small water bottles and biscuits, before proceeding to check our passports for Vietnamese visa stamps. The bus was very clean and comfortable and we left only 15 minutes later than the scheduled time.
After a few hours, our passports were all collected and we went through Cambodian Immigration, which was a quick process. Then after a short drive, we had to go through Vietnamese immigration, which involved a lot of waiting around with all our luggage. Once given the green light, we went through a bag scanner and were cleared to get back onto the bus. The entire immigration process took around 40 minutes in total.
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 4pm. Here we walked to Toi’s Travel Home Central, which was our hostel for the next few nights. The hostel was really nice and clean. We were in double bed dorm rooms. We had to pay the room rates as soon as we got there, and I had a mini heart attack when they asked for over one million Dong! But I recovered once I realised 1,000,000 Dong (VND) is $60.89 AUD.
After settling in, we decided to walk around town. The first thing we noticed is how many motorbikes are on the roads…and even the footpath. We walked through the closing Phan Boi Chau Night Market (aka Ben Thanh Market) which was massive with heaps of items from souvenirs through to fruits.
Definitely more bikes than cars and pedestrians on the road!
We then walked to Ho Chi Minh City Hall and the area around there. I guess I was expecting a small city like the rest of South East Asia, but this city is as modern, if not more than Melbourne. Ho Chi Minh City at least doesn’t feel like its part of a developing country.
City Hall in the background
We then went to have dinner at a restaurant called Little Viet. We ordered a few drinks and food. The price was significantly higher than we expected. Once questioning the staff about the extra items on the bill (which was in Vietnamese), they told us that the napkins were 6,000 VND / $0.37 AUD each and some nuts they bought out without being asked for were 20,000 VND / $1.20 AUD. Something to watch out for!
We also bought a sim card from Metfone (100,000 VND / $6.09AUD) as per recommendation from our hostel and a half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels from Viet Dragon Travel for 515,000 VND / $31.36 AUD for 2 people scheduled for tomorrow.