Well 9am and we were not leaving with our old faithful taxi driver - instead he sures up a 'mate' who needs to visit family in Chau Doc, the Vietnamese border town. Well ok, but how can it be that for US$30, his mates old bomby Toyota Camry is even older, bombier and dustier than all the others in Kampot? Oh well, it was all part of the adventure, and after all, I had been hanging out to get to Viet Nam for so long, it being one of my three must-see destinations in the world.
The driver was not too bad. The car - as I mentioned earlier, and with no airconditioning! That aside, we finally got off the dirt roads and onto the major sealed highway to Viet Nam, perhaps built by the Vietnamese(?). The road was built up considerably, maybe 5 metres, with rice paddies on either side. We must've been about 3kms from the border crossing, when I feel the car veering and a weird rubbing noise. A flat tyre. I realise straight away what it is, and jump out and take a look. Paul goes to the boot to retrieve the car jack and the spare. Haha. The spare was as old as the car, about 10cm wide and very thin. Our bags, sitting on top of it are covered in brown dust and grease. While the driver changed the tyre, several men on motos offered us lifts to the border - we politely told them we would continue with our taxi, and patiently waited on the side of the hot highway, the sun beating down on us.
We are finally back in the hot car, and approaching the border crossing. Dammit, we have been robbed!! The taxi driver makes us get out, pay him, and tears off back down the road to Kampot. It became apparent that he had no intention of taking us to Chau Doc, some 30kms away, nor visiting his family. And US$30 was considerable given trhe trip from Shianoukville to Kampot took 2 hours, and only US$20! Anyhow, we nervously walked to the first booth, and filled out the departure card and had the official stamp our passports. Goodbye Cambodia.
Five minutes later, and we are walking the 500m to the Vietnamese entry, and I excitedly take my camera out to take a picture. Whoops! The guards are waving at me to stop and put it away. Yes, probably a blonde moment on my behalf. At the booth we are ushered to sit down about 20m away, as our passports are taken into an office. We fill out another form, and then time for the bag check. Ugh! Paul's bag was first, and out came everything. I mean EVERYTHING!! The guard had no idea what some things were, such as the MP3 player, contact lens fluid and pac-safe. Funnily enough, we were unpacking everything on the rollers to a massive, modern X-ray machine. Perhaps it worked, but not today. Instead we spent alt least 10-15 minutes each sweltering in the heat of a glass room, as all things big and small were examined. Once we were finished, we handed over a few thousand riel each as entry/processing tax, and headed off.
Friendly moto drivers pounced on us almost immediately. For some crazy price, I think $10 each, we were driven to Chau Doc. This was to be our first experience of driving on Vietnamese roads - and with no helmet. I requested a helmet, and although surprised, the drivers called in at a drink stall and borrowed two helmets for us to use. The trip was very scenic, given we were entering the Mekong Delta region. Rice dried on big tarps on the sides of the roads, small wooden pole houses stood out of the muddy waters of rivers, motos wove in and out of each other, and people ate and laughed roadside on small plastic chairs.
The bus trip was on a small mini van, and took about 2-3 hours. Un-eventful, but great to sit back and look at our new surroundings. Arriving in Can Tho, in the heart of the Mekong region, we were dumped at a bus station and then had to catch a moto to a Guest house. Luckily the drivers took us to a clean, decent Guest house, close to the river and central area. The room had a lovely big verandah! We booked a trip on the river for the following day, then set out to explore the markets and Esplanade and get some diner.
