<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->

15 June: Saigon

Up at 06h00, we finish up grab the bags, pay our bill and head to where the bus is picking us up. Still uncertain about the outcome, we become more optimistic as the other guests we pick up are all from much more expensive hotels in another more beautiful area of Phnom Penh. We are now certain we were living in the slum part! We arrived at the bus stop and relief fills us as we settled into our business class seats for the 6 hour drive down the Mekong to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam.

The trip is a slow one, but comfortable. We stop along the way for an early lunch, but the prices are really high. Not finding anything more appealing, we purchase chicken, vegetable and rice, but notice only later that it's been pre prepared. The food isn't that nice either and for the first time we don't finish a meal. At least we have some other snacks for the road ahead. Arriving at HCMC, the same scene is revealed to us, motorcycle driver everywhere trying to get some business. Hearing about a nice guest house a little further along we walk there only to find that the light has an irritating buzz and the toilet seat is broken. Only 10m away we find another room, its not the largest room, but the bed is nice, bathroom looks new and all in all its clean.

Having found our place of rest we head for town where we are told a market is abound. In actual fact it's a large shop almost like Pick 'n Pay. At least we can find soap, Melrose cheese squares (their equivalent there to it) and milk. It was the first piece of cheese in all our months and it was delicious!! We headed back past our accommodation to the local market completely on the other side. One thing about HCMC is that if you wait to find a clearing before crossing the road you will never cross it. You literally close your eyes and walk across, the oncoming traffic looks like they are going to crash into you, but at the last minute they swerve out, either in front or behind you.

Having reached the market in one piece with closer than we would have wanted instances, we settle down for dinner. The specialty for the evening is noodles, vegetables and chicken which we share, we even get two wet wipes put in front of us - very sofisticated we thought. Upon payment I hand him 40 000 Dong for the 35 000 bill, and he acts as though I have given him exact payment. I ask for the change after a few minutes silence and only received 3 000, 2 000 apparently for the two wet wipes! Apparantly it's not sofistication but extortion in Vietnam - so from now on we won't eat or use anything that's put on our table that we didn't order. We get nowhere with the argument and leave.

We had hardly walked 10 meters before the rain started falling, we walked further, seeing it will continue to rain we stopped at a restaurant further down and shared a Saigon beer while waiting for the rain to subside. In the end we got up and continued our walk through the market even though the rain had not completely stopped. A few souvenirs found their way into our pockets before we headed home. Unfortunately we missed the fork in the road and went the wrong way, this took us on a search for another 30 minutes before we arrived back at the guest house, at least he had given us a card with the address on it.