day 283, Phnom Penh

Snuck in a couple of jobs in the morning before the bus, got some water and a new headset for skype and a sd card reader as my one is fucked, before rushing to catch the bus down the road onward to Phnom Penh! Michael was emailing back a couple who showed interest in the motorbikes, sods law. The bus was really nice, air conditioned and with nice people running it who spoke good English. They handed out visa forms for Cambodia and drove the 2 hour to the border. They took care of everything, we just waited in a room for our names to be called with all the exit stamps, I was relieved to get out of Vietnam, a tiny, tiny paranoid part of me was turning over the boom pole/the collision with that girl/the truck in my mind, but I was out! The Cambodian visa was really easy, they took care of everything and we were away. Funnily enough the border at Cambodian side was a lot more complex then Vietnam, they took our finger prints and everything. Back on the bus and my first impressions of Cambodia is that of casinos, they were lining the streets, turns out Vietnamese on the weekends come to Cambodia to gamble as it’s illegal in Vietnam. We stopped off for lunch which was very average, had some Khmer Noodles and a delicious coffee before carrying on. It was a 3 hour drive to PP and they put Fast and Furious Five on, with the Rock! I put my ipod in and looked out the window instead, then we drove onto a ferry and crossed another part of the Mekong (randomly I found out that from 2015 there will be a bridge built so the ferry will be redundant, at 2008m it will be Cambodia’s biggest bridge and will be a ‘gift’ from China…) We arrived in PP and it was hot, the streets are grid numbered so we walked to street 88 and found our hostel of choice. Checked in and met a danish girl called Sophie, she was going down to the pool so joined her, didn’t swim as my foot has gone a bit scabby so read my book (just started on 1984) before heading in a nauseating tuk tuk to the night market, had some street food on rugs on the floor and looked a bit half heartedly for some shoes. We walked back and chilled out in the evening, tried calling home but didn’t have any luck so went to the common area, which is also a sort of pub thing, sat on my own away from lots of people socialising and drinking,  watched the England france rugby game and had a blast, was marvellous.

day 282, HCM

Me and Michael wandered around looking for Banh Mi for breakfast, basically Vietnamese sandwiches which are supposed to be super yummy, though as it was gone 10:30 they were all shut, so using people power ended at a point and eat place which was really good, including a delicious coffee. On the way back we stopped off at a motorbike dealer to ask about selling the bikes, he said to bring them down for him to look at, so went back, hopped on the bikes and did as we were told. He looked them over and wasn’t too impressed with Martha, offered 100 bucks and I took it. My attitude was considering before my latest breakdown and the 100buck engine rebuild she was in shit state, I was gonna leave her anyway, I just re-couped my 100bucks for the engine rebuild, plus I don’t have to worry about selling a traveller a potentially shit bike and them having a bad time on Martha. Michael had a bit of negotiating to do and kept on saying no and ended up getting pretty much what he wanted, job done! Decided there wasn’t a lot keeping us in HCM, it lacks the charm of Hanoi, so decide to leave tomorrow for Cambodia. We research Cambodia for a bit and bits and pieces then watch Invictus, the nelson Mandela film, before going in search of the best Banh Mi HCM has to offer. It’s 4kms away, my foot is feeling better thank god and the walk isn’t painful and the sandwich was delightful. Between us we share four of them, with a cake, then walking back get some milk and a roti (from the father of all buns, Papa Roti), buy our bus ticket to Phnom Penh (is it sad I’m looking forward to sitting on a bus, imagine not having to spend attention or energy getting somewhere?!) and chill out in the hostel watching a bit of football and planning tomorrow.

day 281, HCMC

Spent the morning lazing away, took some washing to be done and went out for an Indian as brunch with Michael plus two blokes we met in Hue staying in our dorm, Sam and his mate (who’s name I’ve forgotten). My foot is feeling a bit better and I’m not limping as badly. We walked to the War Remnants Museum in the heat, it was bloody humid and spent a couple of hours there. They had a recreation of the ‘tiger cages’ and prisons, plus a few US military vehicles, tanks, weapons and helicopters outside. Inside was a collection of photographs of war atrocities undertaken by the US, including those involving Agent Orange, there were some very powerful and moving images around. The Museum for me though was too busy and my foot was starting to play up, so we walked back and spent a couple of hours mooching around, Michael went to pick up our washing then straight into the shower and clean clothes which was great. Me and Michael headed off to dinner to a ‘point and eat’ place which was really good, then went out for a couple of beers. I really fancy a nightout, a few beers, a boogie and meeting some people, though one beer through I started not to feel too good, really hot and tired, plus my foot hurts so called it a night, left Michael to continue for the both of us, I stopped off at a shop and bought a litre of milk, some digestive biscuits and a water and now writing this listening to my ipod on shuffle with my frozen bag of peas on my foot. Oh, and the two blokes who looked at the bikes yday have found different ones.

day 280, Ho Chi Minh City

Slept very well and woke up with my foot not hurting at all…until I moved it and had to get out of my bunk bed, of course I was on the top bunk. I could put weight on it and was less painful then yesterday so fingers crossed. Me and Michael put up an ad for the bikes on the internet, had breakfast (which was rubbish) and met two dutch girls during breakfast staying in our dorm, Mariana and Ellie. We had a walk around to find a laundry place, stopped off at a barber’s for a shave, a face pack, a hair wash and shevell, a hair cut and a brief massage, then back to the hostel to find a good place for lunch. We walked there in the sweltering heat, my ankle was struggling though had a glass of milk and some Bun Thit nuong and all was good with the world. Walked back just in time to start watching 21, the film, then we met up with two blokes staying in our hostel who were interested in the bikes. Told them everything about them and they took it for a test drive, thank fuck Martha behaved herself, then Michael went for a drive around, I did a water run and sat in the park watching the kids play football eating an ice cream, before meeting up with Michael, Mariana and Ellie and going off for dinner. Mariana had a sushi craving though the restaurant had a 40min wait so went to a street restaurant and had a good meal, I’m knackered and my foot hurts so am back in the hostel while the others have gone for a drink. Bit bummed as I would love to have a night out but alcohol thins the blood and would only swell my foot more, plus after a few drinks I’d know I’d just want to dance. Grr

day 279, Ho Chi Minh City!

Michael is determined to go to Phu Quoc so we drag ourselves out of bed at half six, pack up and go down the ferry port for tickets, though they’re all sold out for the day and we can’t be arsed to bike up to the northern ferry port about 75kms up, so we head back to Ho Chi Minh City. It’s a shit narrow road with life on either sides, so numerous emergency stops courtesy of bikes, trolleys, kids, adults, animals and buses. We stop for lunch after an hour and half for my favourite Vietnamese dish, Bun Thit Nuong, so simple but so tasty, and perfect for the scorching weather as it’s served room temperature. Back on the bikes and we finish highway 80, turn right on highway 91 to Can Tho, get a bit lost in Can Tho before finding our way to the fabled Highway 1a. The road is actually really good and there isn’t too much traffic about, so we zoom along eating the Kilometres away, soon it vanishes from 164kms to under a hundred, and the countdown begins! About 50kms out the traffic is getting a bit heavier and we stop at Tan An for an internet café to find out where to stay in HCMC and how to get there as Ho Chi Minh city is a concrete labyrinth. 15kms down the road I’m on the inside lane next to a big load bearing vehicle (luckily it isn’t loaded) and a bus pulls out from my right hand side, so subconsciously I edge out to avoid it and brush the side of the truck base with my shoulder, no biggie I think, then the wheel follows it and it runs over my ankle/foot which I put down to make sure I didn’t tumble.. Shocked I yank it away and get it out before the other wheels gets it, I hear shouting and manage to carry on driving and zoom off. It fucking cained. Michael catches up with me, we stop, I whimper into my helmet and my foot is killing me, though I can move my toes and my ankle so think nothing is broken. We turn off earlier then we thought it would be and find our way to the hostel we were after, all the while my foot is slowly becoming more and more painful. Check into the hostel, have a shower and ask Michael what happened. Turns out it was probably my fault, with my over eagerness to avoid the bus, once I made the move to avoid the bus what happened was almost unavoidable. I’m so fucking mad at myself. It happened in the last half hour of riding, after doing over 5000kms for fucks sake. I realise it could have been worse though,  and took solace in that bloke from east 17 who ran himself over in his own car while fetching a jacket potato that he dropped. We go off for dinner and get a western fix which was wank, it’s what I imagine a lasagne to be like if I were in space. have a tiny walk around but my foot isn’t up to it so back to the hostel with water and frozen peas and laze about the common room/reception with my foot up  getting my five a day.

day 278, Rach Gia

After the previous night on the tiles, (actual fucking tiles, not the disco kind) I slept like the dead and woke up to my alarm doing it’s thing,  still tired,  somehow ended up watching the film ‘Valentine’s Day’ which continued our tradition of watching feel good films early in the morning before setting out to complete our somewhat pointless task of driving from the northern-most part of Vietnam to the southern-most part. After a bit of a palava finding 1a we were rolling, it was 51kms south to Nam Cam, we reached a roundabout with an option of left or right, followed the compass to the southern-most one, followed a tiny footpath and reached a river, there were no bridges! For authenticity’s sake we backtracked and took the other option for a kilometre and then the road stopped, we reached the end of Highway 1a, all 2301kms of it! There were no bridges so we had reached the southern-most point accessible by road! (we think there are ferries across as there are roads souther then Nam Cam but still, it’s bloody fantastic). To celebrate we stopped and had lunch and a coffee which were excellent and made our way back to Ca Mau. From Ca Mau we headed onto highway 63, a narrow bumpy road aiming for Rach Gia. About 40kms out of Rach Gia, shortly after a heavy downpour of rain, Michael gets a flat, we walk 2kms down the road to a mechanic but the bloke ain’t there, so his wife pumps up his tyre and points him down the road, where this is repeated once again. Finally we arrive at a mechanics with a mechanic in and the kid sets to work replacing the tube. He wasn’t very good and took a while to sort it, by this time it was pushing five and the sun was on it’s way down. Following highway 63 it suddenly stops and we have to take a ferry which meanders around different rivers and finally lands about 15mins after we left, then another 15km to Rach soi, we carry on up the road as the place is a shithole and end up in Rach Gia driving in the dark. Also my bike is conking out when not in gear, for fucks sake. We find a hotel, I’m glad to be off the bike as don’t like driving when it’s dark, shower and out to dinner which was really good, have a really nice pastry and back to the hotel room to chill and sleep.

oddly the only picture of me and Michael, right before we got shoo-ed on out of there by some blokes from a school/government building(?)

my compass pointing south toward the river, no more road!

where highway 1a ends, it changes to a gravel track and is heading east.  Martha and Martin taking centre stage here,  wonderful bikes

a random picture Michael took while I was busy being Mapman.  and yes, people actually wear those hats in real life

day 277 Ca Mau

Woken up around half six by Minh, most people of the family are already up and about, though doing nothing in particular. Minh takes us for breakfast, a noodle soup with offal which was really good and the bloke from yesterday who spoke a bit of English joins us. We then move round the square for coffee which is different to normal Vietnamese coffee, not milky but still very sweet. They say my bike isn’t ready till five, and after lots of waves and smiles from the locals back to Minh’s place and to a hammock. Michael gets called inside and five minutes later calls me in. Minh’s sat down with a pen and paper listing down what money we owe him. This is a bit of a shock to us, as every time we’ve had something (coffee, tea, food, football…) we’ve got out wallets out and money in hand and Minh has downright refused our money, sometimes forcibly. What’s more shocking is the amount is outrageous, nowhere near what it has cost. Immediately things take an uncomfortable turn and people are hovering about. Football has gone up from the 10,000 VND to 100,000VND, him going off to register ‘costs’ 200,000VND, he writes down 500,000vnd. (Later, after we sorted this, Michael said he wrote it down to begin with, Michael took out his wallet and handed him 500,000vnd, he saw more money in his wallet and started pushing for more.) We’ve been watching him pay for things whenever he has and we work out it is no more then 200,000vnd for the both of us. We get him to phone the bloke who studies banking at HCM and explains this is what he has spent on us and we need to pay it back. We finally settle on 500,000vnd for the both of us after some painful negotiations. Let me say this, it’s not the money that’s fucked me off at all, fuck the money, its £16 for the both of us for lunch, dinner, breakfast, coffee and sleeping, what’s pissed me off it’s just plain lies, deceitful, dishonest and damnright cunt-y-ness. I feel taken advantage of. It’s also ruined the brilliant, spontaneous, authentic, one-time experience,  eating with the men, playing with the kids, going through their English books, grandma popeye smiling her gums out while shelving my overgrown rat-tail Mohawk,  people being nice just for the sake of being nice has disappeared, it was really disappointing and created an uncomfortable atmosphere. I was so fucking angry. What frustrates me even more is both me and Michael were going to give him money as a token of gratitude for the wonderful time Minh had been showing us, we talked about it the night before and agreed on 200,000vnd each.  I go to check on my bike and it’s still being worked on, having to replace the front casing as it was fucked. Back to Minh’s place and have a walk around with Michael though it is too fucking hot. Back to Minh’s and they don’t really want anything to do with us, it’s amazing how much things have changed. We sit in the back and read in hammocks, I finish The Tiger’s Wife (which I have mixed feelings about, bits were bloody marvellous while others just bored and frustrated me, for a bit of chick lit it was far to attrition-al.)  About 3 Minh comes in to say my bike is ready. We go down, I ride Martha, she sounds so much better and back to Minh’s to pack up and get the fuck out of there. I can’t get out of there fast enough. There are also no pictures of these two days as the first day I was just enjoying it so much I didn’t want to bother or do anything to disrupt the groove, I wanted to take everything in, live how they lived and not highlight any differences between us, though after this morning I don’t want anything to do with them at all. I drive angry down the road 50kms to Ca Mau, instead of carrying on we’re both knackered (emotionally and physically) and want our private space, so find a hotel which was actually really nice, shower and have a good Vietnamese dinner (where all the people involved were lovely, smiling and patient, plus didn’t charge us whitey prices), then back to the air con’d room in nothing but a towel for sweets and movies!