Goodbye Vietnam
Trip Start
Sep 11, 2008
1
10
14
Trip End
Sep 24, 2008
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Our guide, Tien, came to fetch us at 9:00 for our motorcycle ride through the streets of Saigon. The naming is very similar to Tswane and Pretoria, the inner city is still called Saigon but the district around the city is called Ho Chi Minh City, anyway back to the motorbikes. We were 6 on the bikes so Tien arranged with 5 guys to take us on a tour with him. I was fortunate that I got a guy who could speak broken English, some of them could not speak at all, all they could ask was how old are you? It is quite interesting when you meet someone in Vietnam they usually ask you how old you are. The reason for this is because they need to know what to call you and how to address you, our guide explained the intricacies of this but I can remember exactly what the protocols were.
Fortunately they had helmets for all of us, you often see people riding their bikes without helmets and most times their children don't wear helmets. They assured us that accidents are quite rare. I was a bit nervous initially but I soon relaxed and enjoyed the ride. It is quite something to be in this kind of traffic where everyone does his own thing and nobody ever stops
AND AT THIS POINT I LOST THE INTERNET and never really got it going again! I am embarrassed to admit I lost my cool the next evening when I still couldn't get it going.
Cambodia
It is now a week later and I am going to try and remember the day as it happened - I am ashamed to admit I didn't keep a paper diary!.My driver wanted to always be first and took a shortcut to the market where they sell American war memorabilia, only problem he went to the wrong market and he had no time on his cellphone so we tried to look for them until Tien phoned him and told him where to go. I bought some T shirts and a lighter for Charles. We then went back to the hotel to do some last minute shopping. I went with Pam & Reina and we did it very quickly at the market close to the hotel. We got back in time to join the others for lunch at Indochine restaurant, Pam stayed behind waiting for Reina, we had lost her in the market and Terry and Anna were also still shopping. Tien, Pam, Reina, Terry and Anna came to fetch us at the restaurant and we were off to the airport on our way to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Once again a very uneventful flight. Going through customs was quite an experience, we had to hand in a photo, $25 and our passports for a visa. These then traveled down a line of about 10 officials who each did something to these and the last one handing back our passports with visa's stapled in. Our new guide is Thoun and very friendly and well prepared, keep saying "or something like that".
Then off to the hotel. Cambodia has been to hell and back and are now starting to recover from this terrible past. Tourism is a very big thing for them and they work very hard to impress visitors with the hope that they will come back and send others. Siem Reap is really the tourist area of Cambodia, I would have like to also gone to Phnom Penh - I can only do so many temples! The Cambodians look much more Indian than Chinese, I was quite surprised.
Sue, Terry, Anna and I decided to go for a foot massage in the spa - I should have done this the first time my feet started swelling! Sue and I then have dinner in the hotel and off to bed, the next day was promised to be very busy again.
Comments
Hello
Hi there
I promise I did try post a comment before but eish it doesn't seem to have worked.
Love your work the writing is so entertaining and you go girl, glad to see you are actually enjoying the place rather than been an old fart and going to bed early cause you are tired.
I wonder if you have heard the Mbeki news? He is going to resign... you might want to stay over there?
I had a wild thought...maybe Charles is studying so hard and attending so many classes that the poor boys is just too snowed under to respond....err nah not likely!
Have a ball but can't believe it is nearly over!