South East Asia Travelog

On Friday morning Ligita and I, accompanied by our two friends from Cambodia, flew out from Phu Quoc as planned and this time there were no hiccups like the ferry charade on Wednesday. We met many puzzled travelers who were also supposed to travel on the ferry two days previous and all were forced to remain on the island like us – very strange.

When we landed in Rach Gia airport two German travelers joined us and shared a taxi to the bus station but en route Don started negotiating a price to the Cambodian border in the taxi.  We all agreed to $10 per person for the 145km journey and so off we went.

At the border we passed through the Vietnam departure process fairly easily and proceeded to walk into the ‘no man’s land’ area between the two border posts.  It’s about a 500 metre stretch of dirt road with dusty fields on either side.  Try to picture a scene from an old western where a ball of tumbleweed might roll past and a skull at the side of the dirt road from a previously failed attempt at crossing this hot, dusty and arid place.  Of course, this was not what we saw, just the dirt road and extreme heat as we passed between border posts with our bags on our back. On reaching the Cambodian border we spent about 30 minutes filling forms, arranging visas and finally getting our immigration stamp. The Cambodian border is literally like one of those old towns from the Western movies (Blazing Saddles is as far back as my Western movie memory goes and that wasn’t even a real Western!).  It’s a wide dusty strip of road with shacks of buildings on either side.  First shack on the left is the Visa office.  As we approach we notice the shutters down and no life in sight.  Within minutes of standing in the searing heat waiting for this place to come alive we see three uniformed chaps in no particular hurry saunter towards us from some other building down the road a bit.

Allow me to digress – it seems that a lot of jobs in this country & Vietnam are done by three people simultaneously.  Perhaps many hands make light work.  For example, on the public buses, one chap driving, one chap taking the money and one chap in charge of the door.  Then there’s the road sweepers – one chap pushing the wheelie bin, one with the brush and one with the shovel or even the guys painting the curb outside the bank today.  One with the brush, one with the paint and one with the masking tape.  Bizarre stuff eh.  That’ll surely keep the unemployment rates right down.

Anyway, in this case the three visa chaps approach at a lightening speed and open up their little shack of an office.  So one hands out the visa application forms and over-sees their accurate completion, one then takes the complete visa form and does the processing and stamping an the third fella is handed the completed visa/passport and hands it back to me on receipt of the $25 fee.  Efficiency on the Cambodian border!   So following this torturosly slow transaction we moved on to the next shack on the street.  This was the Health Bureau.  I’m not kiddin when I say “Bureau” either.  This country has a very influencial French history.  Another form to fill in as inaccurately as ye like and away we were to the next shack on the street – Customs.  Nope nothing to declare, so we’ll quickly skip on to the one at the end which is Immigration.  A few hatches at this one.  In & Out.  I guess we’re going in and guess who’s behind the hatches – our three friends from the Visa shack!  This is priceless stuff.  So we’re handed another form, almost identical to the one we had to fill in for the Visa application.  Another 20 minutes later and several stamps on the passport later and we’re done.  Phew.

With ten days in Cambodia ahead of us we hopped into our waiting taxi, thanks to Don, and set off for Sihonakville on the southern coast of Cambodia.  When we arrived, Don brought us directly to his hotel where he had arranged a room with a fantastic view of the islands that sit just off the coast.  The hotel was great.  It was very different from any of the Vietnamese hotels we stayed at.  Clearly there was a Western (the owners are Irish, New Zealand and English) influence to it’s decor and had a very relaxed atmosphere.  The restaurant sits on a veranda right beside the water and when the sun sets the room is lit tastefully with candles and tall coloured lamps that sit on the floor about the bar & restaurant area.  That night they had a barbeque fired up on the sand so we tucked into that and enjoyed a few cocktails and live music.

A new country and just 10 days to enjoy it.  Next up Phnom Penh.

R.