Journey to Vietnam

On Sunday we got the minibus from Kampot to Sihanoukville, which is a bit like the Magaluf of Cambodia. Not really appealing to us, we only went there in order to get our Visa for Vietnam as it's the easiest, cheapest and quickest place to obtain it. Even if you apply in Phnom Penh they send your passport on down to Sihanoukvile, apparently.

The bars on the beach are packed so closely together you can normally hear 3 different sound systems at the same time, competing for your attention. There isn't much to see of the beach for all the furniture, beggars, sellers, food stalls and the like.

We did, however, rent ourselves a scooter and headed off to Otres beach a few km away to see the sunset. I'm including the picture below if only to remind myself I've never had so many people take such a close interest in my toenails! "Cut your nails, sir?"

Ray, the son of the family running our guesthouse spoke great English for a nine year-old, and so was the person to come to for visa advice, taxi booking and scooter rental - all for a small commission, of course. However, when it came to finding him the following morning for booking the taxi to the border, we we both pleased and disappointed to find our 'fixer' was in school!

Getting the visa itself was a doddle. We just turned up with our passports, filled in the form, handed over the money, then five minutes later we were out of there! In the short time we were there we met Al, a builder/scuba diving instructor from Philadelphia. He was heading in our direction that morning, so we agreed to share the taxi costs.

After passing back through Kampot and Kep, the road got progressively worse as we approached the border. As we crossed the border we were followed through by the troupe of moto drivers, despite us politely refusing their services. Little did we know they would be our only option on the other side!

In the few kilometres they took us from the border to Ha Tien, we (well, Hazel) had repeated offers and suggestions for us to take somebody's cousin's friend's brother's fishing boat to take us from the port at Ha Tien over to Phu Quoc - our destination.

Although it would have made for a shorter journey, we agreed we'd 'stay on target' and get the bus from Ha Tien down to Rach Gia, which is the better known route to Phu Quoc via the Hydrofoil.

Two and a half hours' bus ride later, and we pulled up at the bus station in Rach Gia, only to be mobbed (again) by moto drivers. One of the first things that struck us about Vietnam was that many of the street cafes seemed to have furniture like that in the local primary school - ie if you are 4' 2" and weigh 6 stone then you'll be pretty comfy! I'm sure many a person has come a cropper on these miniature chairs!

After we'd sorted ourselves out with a hotel for the night, we searched out somewhere for some scran, and discovered this great place to get Buffalo Soup. Here's us (with Al) conversing with the owner, who regaled us with wondrous stories of his love affairs with western women.

After a few thirst quenching beers, we were ready for a good night's kip... Or so we thought. More on that in the next instalment.

Namaste!

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Kampot and Messing About on the River

We both really enjoyed the vibe in Kampot. Bodhi Villa was a lovely place to unwind for a few days, the tone being set by the sign as you go in:

Jos and Hugh (our wonderful hosts/chill consultants) kept us supplied with delicious food, beer Lao, cocktails and regular 'rock out' sessions from behind the bar, which tended to get a bit more lively as the day wore on:

During the day it was great watching Hugh taking people out on the speedboat - often being towed at high-speed trying desperately to cling on to a rubber ring!

Hold... on... tight!

Our bungalow overlooked a lovely frog pond - although they seemed to prefer our washroom to the water, giving Haze great anxiety during the night when reaching for the elusive lightswitch! The laidback atmosphere also meant that none of the bungalows had doors, only curtains. This proved very welcoming to the lizard population; Haze jumping a foot off the ground upon seeing a foot-long lizard crawl out from under the mattress was one of the funnier moments to date! :-)

We don't have a closer photo of our bungalow unfortunately, but here's the view from the other side of the water:

And here's what you see coming back the other way:

We walked into town down the suggested route along the railway line and across the bridge. It all felt very 'Stand By Me':

Kampot itself is a lovely sleepy little town with a friendly community feel to it:

Part of this spirit comes from the Epic Arts Cafe, which we stopped by a couple of times. It it run by people who have disabilities, many of whom are also involved in dance and performance arts, and have toured around Cambodia. We had the great fortune to be in Kampot when they performed in their home town, and it brought many locals and supporters of the cafe out onto the streets.

Here's a brief snap of what we saw that evening:

We met many people who came to Kampot just to visit, and five years later are still here. It's easy to see why!

Namaste!

Taxis, Cambodia Style!

We were looking forward to the luxury of a Taxi from Phnom Penh to Kampot, since no buses travel in that direction. Our Tuk-Tuk driver dropped us off at the departure point, and we quickly negotiated what we thought was a good deal ($10 for us both, as opposed to the $40 for the whole cab that other drivers were offering). 'Nice job!' we thought as we set off, thinking we'd just be squishing in alongside the many parcels another guy was bringing with him. Then, just round the corner, we collected a lady and her granddaughter, who both fitted in snugly next to us on the back seat. 2 minutes later, another chap got in,  and sat on the lap of parcel man on the passenger seat. To top even that, we pulled over to get some petrol next, and a new guy got in the driver's seat, and the driver quite confidently climbed upon his lap! We hoped that either the car was an automatic or the driver had extra-long legs. All of this didn't prevent him from overtaking on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, of course! Here's the front seat - the driver is second on the left:

And this is the back seat.

Hazel's thought bubble would have to read: 'One is not amused!'

Two and a half hours later we arrived in Kampot, still a little shaken but glad to be alive. We got a Tuk Tuk for the shortish ride over to Bhodi Villa, which was recommended to us by Mat and Sky (nice work guys!). More on that in the next post, but it's worth mentioning that just by the bar they had up on the wall a blackboard with a chalk drawing of a "Typical Cambodian Taxi Ride" which pretty accurately defined our experience. Too late to forewarn us, but funny nonetheless.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: always remember that Cambodian Taxis seat up to 8 people - it's up to you to buy as many seats as you feel safe and comfortable with!