Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Before we parted ways, Keo had given us our tickets for the 'Mekong Express', a shuttle coach service between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City. The company collected us from our hostel and we were taken to the station where the coach awaited, it's orange and white livery cooking in the hot morning sunshine. Fortunately the air conditioning was in working order and we slowly cooled as the coach crawled out of the capital and toward the border.

The coach had its own 'hostess' who gave us information on the immigration processes but more importantly gave out free water and pastries to the passengers. Kim did not like the meat pastry but Alex, always grateful for free food, happily munched his way through both.

We breezed out of Cambodian immigration but had a long hot wait to enter Vietnam. We, along with the few other white passengers, were the last from the coach to be processed by the immigration officer (Alex was the very last) before we had to have our bags scanned. This left Kim considering the process was racist as we rolled onward to Ho Chi Minh City.

Our hostel, tucked away down a narrow alleyway, sheltered us from the thundering chaos of the thousands of scooters revving through the streets. Leaving our heavy bags behind we re-entered the chaos to find a brilliant restaurant where we ate Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup, with a side of sautéed Morning Glory and fresh passion fruit and carrot juices. After experiencing the often anticlimactic Cambodian cuisine, we felt very satisfied and looked forward to more Vietnamese meals to come!Read more