Our second stint in HCMC was a rather relaxed affair, found a nice place to stay pretty central with the
rather addictive luxury of cable TV... Picked up Tabs brand spanking new passport and proceeded to get
an exit visa for it. This took 4 days so bimbled around Saigon, spending long periods of time on the
internet, eating at the market and I tried to learn how to play pool. I've got a wee way to go yet.
Passport and visa all sorted we made our way out of the manic traffic of central HCMC to the slightly
less frantic gridlock of State Highway One. The dust and fumes were so bad that I finally succumbed to
purchasing the ultimate Vietnamese fashion accessory - a cotton dust mask for the the mouth and nose.
Bit stuffy though. Not the nicest riding, very busy all the way to Mytho. Here we experienced our first
of many ferry rides over the Mekong delta. We were the source of much amusement for people on the boat
for the 20 minute trip and Tabs got another marriage offer. On the other side we had an unexpected but
pleasant extra 10km to reach Ben Tre. Found a room and off to sample one of the best things about the
Mekong - amazing vege noodles. You can find them everywhere and thus we had them virtually every meal
the rest of our time in Vietnam. A bigger Buddhist population is to thank, we saw lots more temples and
shrines here than any other area in the country.Stocked up on yummy Ben Tre coconut candy and a pleasant morning cycling through really quiet countryside of rice paddies and nurseries, fruit trees and stilt houses. Then another ferry brought us back to State Highway One and a busy straight stretch of road to Cantho. Here we tried fruitlessly to meet up with a couch surfing contact but found a room and ate great street food like sweet coconut sticky rice in a waffle. Whilst sitting in the central square we were approached by four different groups of young Vietnamese keen to speak English with us. All were really friendly and it was a great exchange as we learnt more about local Vietnamese life and customs also. We bumped into one girl the next day who even had presents for us! Totally touched, people here are so warm.
We also managed to meet up with Nathan from couch surfing the next day and he took us to a nice little vege place to eat, he is over from the US teaching English and a nice guy to chat to. Then we had to set off and to another town towards the Cambodian border. On Nathan's advice we left the main, slightly dull, main road the next day and took a longer but very interesting route along the canals. Stopped for a coffee at a place overhanging the water and watched the boats and even duck herders go by. In the afternoon the scenery changed to hills and forest, and, a sure sign we were nearing the border - Cambodian temples, language and dress began to appear. The last 10kms were down a road only one lane wide and lined with stilt houses over the water. Amazing scenes of local life on the Mekong.
Our last night in Vietnam didn't go exactly smoothly as a final check on the internet had us doubting we
could cross our intended border without a visa in advance and thinking we may need to jump on an expensive
boat to Phenom Phen... much running around and receiving conflicting information didn't help but our hotel
receptionist assured us we could buy our visa at the border contrary to what the websites and everyone else
in town was saying. So we hoped for the best and were in luck - got to the border and directed to a concrete
shack perched out over the water with a painted sign saying 'Visa Application'. Nothing fancy but we weren't
bothered!!From there it was an incredibly hot 40km to Takeo, where we were heading blindly in the hope that an orphanage we had heard about through a couple we met in Saigon would have us to volunteer. Bit of missioning around and hand drawn maps later and we found it - and a very nice team of people happy to have us stay and help out for a few days.... What a great introduction to Cambodia.