After spending four wonderful days on the island of Phu Quoc, a near deserted place close (in theory) to the Cambodian border, we reluctantly abandoned our beach paradise and boarded a ferry towards Rach Gia on the mainland. It went smoothly; we were surprised. At Rach Gia we crammed into a sweaty minibus and rode with our knees hugging our sweaty chests (and if I am doing this we know that space is truly limited - 4 foot 9, say it loud...say it proud!) for four hours, while women attempted to shove sandwiches through the windows at us every time the vehicle lurched to a dusty halt. The most notable of these brief stops was our bathroom stop - which consisted of a trough, at best. I used it. So what. There was no livestock.
On the beach on Phu Quoc. The arrow points to happiness.
We reached Chau Doc at around 2 pm, where we intended to catch a boat to Phnom Penh (I don't know if intend is the right word - this part of our trip was NOT well thought out.) We were a approached by a friendly man who spoke decent English. "Phnom Penh no problem! Thirty five dollars, my brother has boat. Private car to boat, air conditioned, very good!" he said, "From there you cross into Cambodia, only pay when you get to Phnom Penh." By South East Asian standards this was quite expensive, especially in comparison to the ten dollars we would have paid if we took a boat in the morning, like everyone else, but some of us had Vietnamese visas that expired that very day. Convenient. We agreed and hopped into our sweet ride - which was when Mr. Man told us our luggage would not fit in said sweet ride and we were transferred onto yet another sweaty minibus; this one smelled of fish. We got to the border fairly uneventfully and were escorted to our boat - a tiny little rowboat, with a 40 horsepower engine that Mr. Man was very proud of. "Lifejackets?" Becs asked, passively. No response.
The first part of the journey was spectacular. We had a bottle of whiskey, and some Pringles - the first thing we'd eaten all day - and we were all in great spirits, because we were so thrilled to be out of Vietnam. Unfortunately for us our 15 year old boat driver was Vietnamese, meaning that there was still clearly trouble on the way. We'd started our feat late in the afternoon, and it quickly got dark. No lights on said boat. Hmm. We were on the Mekong, again, and there were thunderstorms closing in on us from both directions. It was slightly chilly, and I was slightly anxious. I was getting ready for it to end - the lights were not so far in the distance - when the dreaded sound of "Put...put...put..puttttt..." invaded my ears. We were out of gas. There was no emergency supply, and buddy had no credit on his phone. Also no paddles. There was barbed wire separating the river from the riverbed, which was possibly mined anyway, we had no idea where we were. Our idiot driver stood there stupidly while I screamed and blew my rape whistle. "Are we going to be here FOREVER?!" I yelled frantically. "Yes," he responded...lost in translation. Again.
Sunset on the Mekong, somewhere between Vietnam and Cambodia.
Clearly we made it out ok, after a passing boatman towed us to safety. I was really quite taken with Cambodia, but I wasn't there long enough for anything to go wrong. Phnom Penh is in fact a pretty nice city, not as scary and dirty and dangerous as everyone makes it out to be. The killing fields are chilling, and the marijuana is free flowing. From there we went to Siem Reap to see the temples of Angkor, which were monumental but after a day of walking around them a temple is a temple is a temple, I was out of money because I'd bought countless crappy bracelets, fans and postcards from small children who threatened to cry if I didn't buy anything from them and I'm a sucker for small children, and I was ready for my tuk tuk driver to take me from Angkor Wat to Angkor What?, the bar where we would inevitably get wankered because Duncan and I would be parting with the posse the next day.
Angkor Wat.
Angkor What?
Duncan and I took a horrible bus to the Thai border and passed through the most vile town I've ever seen - Poipet, Cambodia, and once across, took the bus then ferry to Koh Chang. By the time we got there we were so tired that we checked into the first beach hut that we could find, although it would turn out that the rickety old shack had a creepy outdoor shower and there was no beach. The next day we abandoned all notions of being backpackers and checked into a beautiful resort, where we spent the next 6 days swimming in the ocean AND in the pool, and frolicking and drinking and zipping around the island on our sweet motorbike and counting sex tourists. We headed back to Bangkok two days ago, and stayed in the "Dream Hotel", where we lied and said it was our honeymoon, and they gave us cake, roses, and upgraded our room.
Because I waited so long to book a flight home, I had little choice as to timing, so I have to wait until Monday to get out. I'm chilling out with Heather in Bangkok now, and we may or may not head to a beach close by, but more likely we'll spend a few days shopping and hanging out by the pool. I am completely out of money and looking forward to coming home after a very brief pit stop in Korea.
The most important things I've learned on this trip:
a) I'm a hopeless romantic.
b) The best things in life are sometimes impractical.
c) Never trust the Vietnamese.
See you soon.
The most important things I've learned on this trip:
a) I'm a hopeless romantic.
b) The best things in life are sometimes impractical.
c) Never trust the Vietnamese.
See you soon.
Jo
*Post-script - as it is now actually February 2010 and I am kind of trying to fill in the gaps - Heather and I never made it to the beach. We hung out with Thai prostitutes, not all of them female by birth, and some crazy Irish guys who liked to make it with prostitutes, but not our prostitutes, because that would just be uncool.
Heather with Yaya.
