Wednesday, 1 May 2013

A very long two days

On our way from Ho Chi Minh City to the town of Chau Doc on the Mekong river, we chilled on an awesome sleeper bus, watching the lush Vietnamese countryside go by. But we weren't at peace forever, because soon enough blaring cheesy music came on, along with accompanying live music videos, each with an elaborate plot.

Our supposed three hour bus ride ended up taking six and a half, and since no one spoke a word of English, we didn't know when we were supposed to get off. When we finally arrived in Chau Doc, it was almost eleven o'clock at night. When brought to our hostel, it was closed, probably because it was too late. Then while going around the town, we found out that all of the other hostels were closed too. Our driver brought us to the only open hotel in town, a majestic building overlooking the Mekong. When we found out the lowest rate for the night was 150$, our hearts sank. I mean, there aren't many broke university students who can afford a room like this.

We were called a taxi, who drive us around town, trying to find an open place. We were considering pulling off an all-nighter, since we had to leave at 6:30 the next morning to catch our boat. We were brought to another nice hotel, which charged 50$ a night. But then a tuk-tuk driver told us he knew about a place that charged only 20$ a night, and was still open. We quickly drove there, and collapsed on the bed, sticky, tired, and hungry, for we hadn't eaten dinner.

We got up at 5:30 the next morning, ready for another long, yet exciting day. This day comprised lots and lots of traveling. We spent 4.5 hours on a slow boat cruising down the Mekong, stopping to visit local fish farms and to visit a river-side village, then we then spent 2.5 hours in a very hot van. We had to do several stops in various different immigration offices in the countryside before being allowed to enter Cambodia. Once the passports and visas completed, we sped down country roads on the way to Phnom Penh. The road which we took was mostly covered of massive tarps covered in corn kernels for drying. They would sometimes cover half the road, making for a very windy drive. There were also a ton of gigantic colorful temples pn the side of the road. Once in Phnom Penh, the van dropped off several French backpackers that had joined us that morning and then had the hard task to try to find our little hostel. We had a very nice drive through the city before arriving to destination. We arrived to some very cold air-conditioned rooms, because if we haven't mentioned this enough yet; it's really hot. This concluded a very hectic two days of travel.

We are now hanging out in the hostel trying to handle the heat. We walked around a little today, but it will take some acclimatization before we can do some serious exploring.

Elena and Alex


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