With such a tragic recent history Phonem Phen really does bring things in to perspective. Yet the Cambodian people never ceased to amaze me, they were always very welcoming and friendly, and are always smiling, this despite what they have been through in the last 30 years.

An amazing place but unfortunately after only 3 days it was time for us to move on south through the country, our next destination was a great little seaside town on the southern coast of Cambodia - Sihanoukville. The weather was amazing... but unfortunately on route we're were hearing rumours the beach had literally been washed away 3 or 4 weeks prior by the typhoon that hit Vietnam and southern Cambodia. They weren't kidding... the golden sands had vanished and all that remained was the sea lapping up against a last lines of defence of sandbags - t***!!!

Solution - Hotel with a pool!

We booked into a great place a block back from the beach, and on the door step we were surrounded by BBQ restaurants that all haggled amazing offers to get us through the doors. We got on really well with a place a few doors down from our hotel and so ended up spending all the nights eating BBQ'd Baracuda, chicken with all the trimmings and all the beers we could drink for an absolute steal!! AWESOME!

It’s from here we also sorted out of visa's for Vietnam and decided on the best border crossing to take on our next leg!

We were told by travel agents it would take 3 days to sort our visas, but they could get us an express visa in 24 to 48 hours, for a small fee obviously! Didn't believe a word they said so we went to the Vietnam embassy, and guess what??? Visa took all of 15 minutes to sort and was $20! Learnt our lesson on entering the country! Mint!

Prices for coaches into Vietnam were pretty expensive and 18 hours long as they went via Phonem Phen, which meant heading back north over ground we'd already covered. That and the fact we found out it was actually cheaper to get a private taxi to the Cambodian / Vietnam border at Kep / Ha Tien, than the cost of the bus fare! It also meant we could cross over into the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam and make our own way to Siagon / Ho Chi Minh City. ABSOLUTE NO BRAINER I HEAR TO SAY!! 3 of you in a private taxi, loads of space and no cramped mini bus!!
Errrr let me tell you where I am - I'M IN!!

So we booked our onward travel and had three great nights in Sihanoukville, eating drinking and relaxing by the pool.

On the morning of our departure our chariot awaited outside the hotel... by chariot I mean 20 year old Nissan Sunny!! It had wheels and air con though so we threw our bags in the boot, said our goodbyes to our friends in the hotel and restaurant next door...Ben (Mr Lake) jumped in the front, and Ben 2 and I jumped in the back... just about to close the door, and the driver stops me and points to his mate he was chatting to... I give a little smile and say goodbye to him also (never met or seen the guy before in my life, but hey I'm a friendly Brit travelling round the world). Go to close the door a second time, and again the driver stops me closing the door, and points to his friend again and points to where I'm sitting!! Now I don't speak Cambodian but the way he pointed to my seat and pointed to his friend and said in very broken English "MYYYY FRIENDDDD" something told me john boy was catching a lift in our soon to be very much less spacious ride to the border!! t***!!

Somehow I manage to get shoved along to the middle, John boy sits next to me and off we go... Between me and the Bens we're sat trying to figure out what was going - was this fella just getting a lift down the road, was he joining the three of us for the rest of the trip! God knows!! But all I knew I was now cramped sat in the middle of our spacious taxi, and I saw no indication that was going to change! 4 hour journey to the border! Hmmm excuse me Mr driver! Can you pull over... yup!

Cool John boy out ya get we're swapping seats! If you’re along for the journey - you’re in the middle fella!!!

Turned out John Boy was along for the full journey. In the end completely understood why the driver brought him along not the kind of place you'd want to break down by yourself! Took us about 4 hours to get to Ha Tien... a newly open border which turned out to be a few huts at the end of a LONG off road track, with very little about except very small rural communities.

The second we arrived at the border and we got out of the car... we were mobbed by locals trying to offer us lifts to the border!!
I’ve just travelled 4 hours to get here - where the hell are they trying to give us a lift to!

Turned out the car we were in wasn't allowed to head over into the Vietnamese side of the border... but the drivers on the motos where!
And they were telling us the walk to their side was 10k, but they would happily give us a lift for $15! NIGHTMARE! The book said should be more like $4 to Ha Tien from the border! The guards in the passport control also said it wasn't that far... so we decided to make our own way!

We got our passports stamped on the Cambodian side, and set out walking over no mans land to the Vietnamese side! Turned out to be 500metres! Once we were on that side of the border the price for a lift into town dropped to $4.. :o)
It was even the same moto drivers who ended up giving us the lift, they followed us over from the other side, and dropped the price the second we got over! $4 was what we expected ... so we got the drivers to take us into Ha Tien.
Border crossing - COMPLETED!

Next up Accommodation... simple go to a place in the book and ask them if they have any rooms, then we look into the next move to do a in the coming days! Nah! Not in Vietnam...

Our Moto drivers take us to the port! Well I say port it was by the water and that’s as close as it gets to being a port... where a fella, who was apparently the owner of a boat tells us that his boat is out of the water for days, and we wouldn't be able to get to island of Phu Quoc so we may as well get a bus (his bus) there and then to Ho Chi Minh City!! (12 Hours North by his bus!!)

Wow wow wow there sunshine... Hang on a second! At no point did we say to them we wanted to get a boat to Phu Quoc, we specified a hostel in the town! We divant want a bus! We want accommodation!! So back on the bikes and off to some accommodation... the place we showed on the map?? Nah - Their mates place... Looked a dive!
Guys guys - we don't want to stay at your mates place, we'd like to go to the original place we showed you on the map! We also don't want to get a boat, or your mates bus!
So they take us to another place - again their other mates place! NIGHTMARE!

Now getting a little frustrated!! GUYS - this place or I'm walking! Tip is to pay them at the end! We finally get taken to the place we requested - get a room sorted!

Go to pay my moto driver $4 and he isn't happy at only getting $4! He said he had taken us further... to the port and other hostels!! YEAH ONLY BEACUSE YOU WANTED TOO!! We only asked to go to this one place, you drove us all round town trying to get us to stay at your mates or get your mates bus... here is your $4 - do one dickhead!!
Welcome to Vietnam!!

Ended up only staying in Ha Tien 1 night, that afternoon went for a much need beer, played football on the street with some local kids, and went for a lovely dinner on the deck of a floating restaurant on the Mekong, and wandered around the town.

Onwards we go... Vietnam baby – Gotta love the place!!

Much Love
Ravey
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