Boarder-crossing Blues

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  Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Monday, February 11, 2008

After a tedious bus journey from Phnom Pehn, Cambodia we finally arrived in Vietnam. Our 6-hour bus ride took almost 10-hours due to 2 unfortunate breakdowns along the highway and a further 2-hour delay at the boarder-crossing while we waited for another bus to come and pick us up. Our original bus was in obvious need of repair.

However, you know us...we took full advantage of the situation and wandered into the lives of a few local people on route. At our first breakdown we meandered down into the ditch as there was some road construction going on in the area. I (Sharon) quickly befriended a few local children and shared a few tic-tac mints with them in an attempt to have some basic conversation. Needless to say, there was little to no conversation to be had as nobody could speak English - other than a good solid "hello".

Bus Breakdown Blues

Norm and I vistied for a short while with the whole family - dad, mom, kids and grandmother. It was evident that some of the children belonged to another family, but we didn't really know who or where - nor did it really matter. We all had a good giggle looking at the photos we took of them. They really seemed to enjoy seeing themselves in the viewfinder on the camera. It was a treat for all of us to share a brief moment together.

During the second breakdown, I walked a fair way from the road and had another brief encounter with yet another family. Just women and children sitting around enjoying their lunch, but took a minute to visit with me and, once again, enjoyed seeing themselves on the digital camera. Norm stayed back by the bus and talked to a lovely couple from Calgary, Alberta. First they tried to whistle to get my attention to come back, but I didn't hear them - so then Norm yelled out my name (several times - so he says) to pull me away from my visit and back to the bus.

The driver we had was pretty skilled as he managed, on both occassions, to get the bus up and running and back on the road again. Before long, we were at the boader waiting to get into Vietnam. 

We finally got to Ho Chi Minh City, got a room, booked a 2-day trip to the Mekong Delta, and then went for some dinner and a beer.

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First Family Visit - Breakdown #1

Second Family Visit - Breakdown #2

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