The Mekong Express bus took me from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City in air-conditioned comfort and with a bare minimum of delay. We were processed out of Cambodia and into Vietnam quickly, all things considered. The Viet Customs dudes seemed more efficient and snarled less than last year.
A uniformed stewardess from the bus takes care of pretty much everything for you; you leave your hotel at 0745 and arrive in HCMC at precisely 1300. The fare is supposed to be $12.00, but one pays the hotel an extra few bucks for dealing with the ticketing hassle. Well worth it, in my opinion. A tasty snack (a croissant and a chicken sandwich plus a bottle of water) is included. Cold wet wipes are handed out and the on-board TV shows bad Khmer karaoke. The bus drops you right in the backpacker district.
I got off the bus, had a quick meal of pho, then got into a taxi and went to my expat pal's house on the edge of town. Said pal lives in a new, gated expat luxury compound with hardwood floors and all mod cons. Feeling out of sorts in regards to time zones, I napped.
While he was at work the next day, I did a little bootleg-DVD shopping at the big mall in town and then returned to the safety of air conditioned comfort until the jet-lag monster hit me. One can have all sorts of plans for siteseeing lined up and then you hit the wall of sleep. Must sleep NOW. (It has been a week and I am almost over it, in another week I will have to attempt to revert back to Pacific time)
On Sunday, said pal and I went on an organized tour of the Mekong Delta. I am not a tour sort of fellow, but I have learned to recognize that being stubborn lets me see little, stubborness which turns into shame and regret. I rationalize it: I cannot be an itinerant traveler all the time, sometimes I must be a Contiki bus bunny.
The day-long tour of the Mekong included an airconditioned bus, boat rides, a tour guide, a decent lunch, some good photo ops and, as an added bonus, a collection of delightfully fawn-like Australian high school girls to flirt with. All this for US$7.00
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