Arriving into Hon Chi Minh city

We checked out of our hotel at 11pm and got a tuk-tuk to a travel agent's shop, who then took us in a minivan to the bus stop. We had read some really awful reviews of this bus service, including that the driver played loud music the whole journey, was drunk, and rude, so we were quite apprehensive about the ride. However, after finding our double bunk, below some French tourists, we got into our liners and dozed for the rest of the journey and didn't experience any major negatives. We didn't really sleep, however, and it was hard to get used to rolling around with the twists and turns of the road, but I felt like I got some light sleep.

We arrived in Phnom Penh at around 5 am for our next bus that left at 6 am. We got dropped off at a very basic terminal with a few locals sitting and waiting, and lots of deliveries being moved on and off the buses. The streets surrounding it were busy with the morning food market, which was incredibly busy for that time of the morning. We sat around until 30 minutes before our bus and decided to ask at the desk which bus it was, as no one and nothing gave us any indication of where we should be. They ushered us into a tuk-tuk that took us to a tiny kiosk with a boy asleep behind the desk. Another man appeared and directed us to, one by one, get on the motorbike with the boy and our bags to head to where the bus was departing from. I went first and was bricking it on that motorbike, feeling like I might slide off the back. We both made it intact though and after a quick passport check, got onto the coach.

The drive was fine and after a few hours, we got to the Vietnam border. It was a lot bigger and more imposing than the Cambodian border and with our travel operators taking our passports and doing everything for us, we were authorized to enter and remain for 14 days visa-free. There is always a noticeable shift when you cross the land border; the shops and houses change and in this case, we began seeing a lot more classic conical Vietnamese hats. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh and ordered a Grab taxi to our accommodation.

In the end, it took us 12 hours to get here on 8 different vehicles 😄 not sure I'll ever experience that many transfers again.

We decided to rent an Airbnb apartment this time, as we felt we wanted a bit more independence to cook and pretend we lived there for a bit. It was a perfect place, a little studio apartment in a big high-rise of flats, with a shared swimming pool and loads of shops and amenities right on the ground floor. We didn't do much else that day except visit the pool and buy some food for breakfast. That evening, we found a tasty pho restaurant down the road and discovered that most Vietnamese don't speak English.Lue lisää