Saigon

Our last few days in Cambodia were lovely.. we went to Kampot for one night, a lovely little town that I could have had an extra day in. Very picturesque riverside little place :)

On the road to Sihanoukville, we caught our first glimpse of the sea.. I was soooo happy. Hadn't seen the ocean since I was in Malaysia nearly a month earlier. Made me very very happy. Jordan will never live away from the sea :)

Sihanoukville was our beach component of this trip.. it was beautiful, but very very hot. I stayed in the air-con room and watched movies most of the time! Went to the beach for dinners both nights we were there, was very pleasant. Lots of people selling things on the beach, and some poor souls begging (I gave one or two some food rather than money, for which they seemed quite grateful!).

Back to Phnom Penh for our final night as a tour group, we all went out to dinner, and called it an early night. We had all swapped contact details earlier in the trip.

Up early the next day... on the minibus, all by myself (except for the tour leader and driver, my two tourmates who were supposed to do this leg of the trip bowed out of it), for the 4 hour drive to the Vietnam border, where my tour leader saw me through exit formalities and said goodbye.

There is a 500m or so long causeway from the exit area from Cambodia to the Vietnam entry point, along which a motorcycle followed me, the driver wanting to charge me to carry me and my things down the causeway. He wasn't aggressive but he wasn't taking no for an answer.. eventually he have up, but only as I was nearing the building! After I got through Vietnam immigration and customs, which was a quick procedure, I was met by the local Gecko's representative and he put me in a car and off we went. Took about 2 hours to get to Saigon.

I wanted a city tour of Saigon, since the last time I was here it was my arrival point and I was so jetlagged that I didn't remember much of it, so the Gecko's fellow arranged for it the following day, a private tour just for me :) Spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in my hotel room just resting.

Got met at 9am for my city tour, which was fantastic, saw the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum (very sad), the Municipal Post Office (built in the early 19th century), where I was able to ship a package home, also the Cathedral (same era as the Post Office), yummy lunch at a local restaurant where I was the only tourist in there, a Buddhist/Taoist temple, and the market at Chinatown. Was awesome. Back at the hotel where I just watched movies and chilled out the rest of the day.

That brings us to today... I need to get packed soon, as I have to leave for my flight in an hour or so. I'm headed to Danang, from which I will take a taxi to Hoi An, where there are hundreds of tailors who will get custom fit clothing together in an hour and for a fraction of the cost at home. I was in Hoi An two years ago when I came to Vietnam, I had a suit (among other things) made at the time, but I've since dropped about 40lbs, so I need another one!

Off I go to pack! Next time I report may very well be when I arrive in Australia.

Thank you for reading my blog everyone! :) :)