A dramatic arrival into Vietnam

Sin Jow Vietnam... We took a speed boat down the Mekong river from Cambodia to Vietnam. It was a dramatic way to enter a new country as the four hour ride cruised us down the massive chocolately pink river (this is the second biggest in the world, the first is the amazon river)

To get over the border we first got off the boat at the Cambodian side to get our passports stamped. To get to the border hut we had to go over a rickety walkway. None of this felt very official at all. After a quick toilet break in the dirtiest loos in Cambodia we were back on the boat and headed for the Vietnam border. This was more stable looking. We were on a boat with just six others, all of which were Italian. Our passports were taken away from us all at this point but thankfully they returned 20 minutes later and - we were in - a doddle compared to coming in to Cambodia! Another hour bumping along on the boat and then we arrived in Chau Doc. The Italians were then put in a mini bus whilst we had to jump on the back of two motobikes with all our bags. Our accommodation was a bit grotty and again we had our passports confiscated until the morning, that and the grey skies meant our first impressions of Vietnam were a bit bleak. That said it felt like we were doing proper travelling now. Mainly because there were no other Westerners around, we were getting stared at again and didn't really know what to do with ourselves in this alien town. Eventually, though we found a cafe to eat in, called Bay Bong and it's list of choices was helpfully in English. Fed and watered we headed in for an early night.

Up before 6am this morning, we were taken around a floating village, fish farm and Cham minority village. An interesting introduction to a new country. We are now waiting for our bus to take us to Saigon.