The very next day we headed for Ho Chi Min city in Vietnam which was previously known as Saigon . We wanted to leave Pnomh Penh quite quickly as a three day Water Festival was starting the day after and apparently the place becomes chaotic, with over 3 million people expected to arrive in the city for the celebrations. The festival hasn't actually taken place since 2010, as the last time it was held over 300 people died in a crush incident on a bridge crossing the water. We were also told that if we hadn't left by the time it started we would be stuck there for the three days as there would be no transport.
We booked the bus for the journey very late the night before, this meant a lot of buses were already booked up, as a lot of people were planning to get out of the city, so we ended up on a big bus that the locals used rather than a tourist mini bus.
It was actually quite good, as we find that the locals do try and talk to you and are very friendly many of them just like to practise speaking English. They are often very amused to see you. We were sat in the back row with a couple who had a small child and a man. The man was showing me photos of his child who is just young, so I showed him photos of my three, a bit of a difference in ages, but that is what parents do! That got the other family interested and through a bit of gesturing we sort off had a conversation. The young man next to me was very nice and kept an eye on us when it came to crossing the borders.
Local buses are more packed than tourist buses with some people sharing seats, some families with small children were given small plastic seats for the children to sit at, at their feet.
At one point in the journey, the bus came to a standstill as we were stuck behind traffic. On the other side of the road there were streams and streams of people just walking the other way. It was quite worrying to see, it looked like what you see on the television when refugees are fleeing a country. These people looked quite happy though, although they were very hot with many using branches , tarpaulins or just their clothing to keep the sun of their head. Along with the people on foot, there were loads of people packed into pickup trucks, many with standing room only, all squashed in. As they seemed quite happy we then wondered if they were heading to the water festival, I asked one of the other passengers what was going on, and apparently it was workers going to a factory!
When we got to the Cambodian border we were all told to get off the bus, so I followed the others but David had taken off his shoes so needed to put them back on. As I got off the bus it started to move and went ahead of me with David still on it, he jumped out while it was moving and we both went and stood by the others .Then the bus pulled up alongside us and we were told to get back on. I had walked about thirty steps, David about ten! That was us out of Cambodia. We got back on and David promptly took his shoes off, only for the bus to go about 40 metres and stop and we were all told to get off again to pass into Vietnam. This time the bags were unloaded and we had to walk through security. It took David longer to get his shoes off and on than it did for us to go through the procedure.
On one of the rest stops we had on the journey another passenger came to speak to me, turns out he lives in Cambodia but travels regularly to Vietnam with his wife as she is getting chemotherapy there. I was thinking what a shame that she has to go through that journey to get treatment but then the same thing sometimes happens in the United Kingdom with people often having to make long journeys at stressful times to get treatment.
After another long journey we arrived in Ho Chi Min .
We booked the bus for the journey very late the night before, this meant a lot of buses were already booked up, as a lot of people were planning to get out of the city, so we ended up on a big bus that the locals used rather than a tourist mini bus.
It was actually quite good, as we find that the locals do try and talk to you and are very friendly many of them just like to practise speaking English. They are often very amused to see you. We were sat in the back row with a couple who had a small child and a man. The man was showing me photos of his child who is just young, so I showed him photos of my three, a bit of a difference in ages, but that is what parents do! That got the other family interested and through a bit of gesturing we sort off had a conversation. The young man next to me was very nice and kept an eye on us when it came to crossing the borders.
Local buses are more packed than tourist buses with some people sharing seats, some families with small children were given small plastic seats for the children to sit at, at their feet.
At one point in the journey, the bus came to a standstill as we were stuck behind traffic. On the other side of the road there were streams and streams of people just walking the other way. It was quite worrying to see, it looked like what you see on the television when refugees are fleeing a country. These people looked quite happy though, although they were very hot with many using branches , tarpaulins or just their clothing to keep the sun of their head. Along with the people on foot, there were loads of people packed into pickup trucks, many with standing room only, all squashed in. As they seemed quite happy we then wondered if they were heading to the water festival, I asked one of the other passengers what was going on, and apparently it was workers going to a factory!
When we got to the Cambodian border we were all told to get off the bus, so I followed the others but David had taken off his shoes so needed to put them back on. As I got off the bus it started to move and went ahead of me with David still on it, he jumped out while it was moving and we both went and stood by the others .Then the bus pulled up alongside us and we were told to get back on. I had walked about thirty steps, David about ten! That was us out of Cambodia. We got back on and David promptly took his shoes off, only for the bus to go about 40 metres and stop and we were all told to get off again to pass into Vietnam. This time the bags were unloaded and we had to walk through security. It took David longer to get his shoes off and on than it did for us to go through the procedure.
On one of the rest stops we had on the journey another passenger came to speak to me, turns out he lives in Cambodia but travels regularly to Vietnam with his wife as she is getting chemotherapy there. I was thinking what a shame that she has to go through that journey to get treatment but then the same thing sometimes happens in the United Kingdom with people often having to make long journeys at stressful times to get treatment.
After another long journey we arrived in Ho Chi Min .
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