Heading off to Ho Chi Minh City!

After two and a half weeks in Phnom Penh, my parents and I decided to make the six/seven hour trip to cross the border to Ho Chi Minh City for the weekend! I tell you, nothing excites me more than the prospect of visiting the place I called home for 16 years (yes, you read right - 16 years). 

I'd never crossed any international border by land before (not counting U.S. to Canada of course), so to say I was a little anxious of the trip was a bit of an understatement. 

 Our bus probably consisted of 1/2 foreign tourists, 1/4 Cambodians and 1/4 Vietnamese passengers. Thank God we were able to choose our seats when we bought our tickets (just like when buying plane tickets), as I would have hated being sat all the way in the back where (in my opinion) it's hotter and more cramped. 

Mekong Express Orussey Branch

So Friday morning, we found ourselves at the Mekong Express bus terminal in front of the Orussey Market, right by the Mekong Express branch there - it would have been quite difficult to find as a lot of other bus terminals are here, and the Mekong Express one is pretty small. Good thing our driver knew where to drop us off.

Two hours into our bus trip and we had to get on a ferry to cross the Mekong River. As in, the whole bus, was on a ferry, along with other vehicles. Make sure that you haven't dozed off as you won't want to miss this experience! Though I'd experienced something like it before, I couldn't help but still be a little excited and worried...

There were tons of vendors waiting by the banks selling all kinds of fruits and other treats. Look how they swarmed around that van!

We passed by two other ferries going the opposite way - great picture-taking opportunity!

The view upstream of Mekong River - a bridge under construction. The whole ferry ride probably lasted about 10 minutes - pretty quick I must say. So if you're worried about traveling by water, don't fret. 

And this was our view pretty much the whole trip - field, after field, after field...

...after field, after field...

But no complaints. The view was real pretty. Also, they were playing some Bollywood film that I didn't catch the name of as our entertainment. At first I wasn't really paying much attention to it, opting to just listen to my tunes, but after a while... let's just say I have a deeper appreciation for Bollywood films now. 

Probably another two hours into the journey, we had a little stopover (25 minutes) at the Flower restaurant for lunch. They were selling all sorts of warm dishes and snacks - but I would definitely suggest just sticking to either the hot soup or light snacks as the warm meals (rice and viand) are pricey and not worth it, unless you like a lot of bones in your meal. Better yet, bring your own food for the trip - they don't mind. 

 Almost there! Well, to the Vietnam border anyway. The trip from the restaurant to the border was probably around 20 minutes, so not that much further to go.

The whole departure process at the Cambodian border was pretty fast, but I'm betting that it was probably due to us getting there around lunch time, so there weren't that many people there. The immigration process at the Vietnam border did take some time though - we had to bring down our bags from the bus for security check, and there was only one guy processing all our passports. Our (for lack of a better word) guide helped us a lot though - she was the one who lined up at the counter with everyone else's passports and simply called us up when the immigration process was done. Sort of a roll call if you will.

Once everyone was back on the bus with their bags, it was another two hours from the Vietnam border to Ho Chi Minh City. 

The view from there on was a little different - more buildings, more motorbikes, more people.

Alas, we made it!!! We reached the city centre just after 3pm, early enough to still have time to roam around the city.

We were dropped off in front of the Mekong Express office along Pham Ngu Lao St.. I was a bit bummed that the Bollywood film we were watching hadn't finished yet - now I'll never know if the two dudes truly make amends and if that one dude gets the girl. Oh well... 

There are a number of taxis idling along Pham Ngu Lao, so catching a cab to wherever you need to go won't be an issue. My advice would be to take either Mai Linh (completely green) or Vinasun (white and green) cabs as those are pretty trusted, and the ones we like to take. They have an actual taxi meter so you know you're not being taken advantage of. 

Pham Ngu Lao is actually what we (and by that I mean the locals and people who have lived here for ages) like to call the 'backpackers area', as there are quite a number of inexpensive accommodations that can be found here, as well as tourist offices, bars and souvenir shops. So if you haven't booked a hotel yet and are looking for something affordable, you can always check out the accommodations available here. 

All in all it was a pretty smooth trip, as the roads travelled are mostly paved - there were only a few instances where it was a tad bit bumpy. But it's definitely easy to fall asleep, especially if you opt to take one of the earlier trips. Just you know, bring earphones if you're a light sleeper. Mekong Express also does provide water and snacks at the start of the journey, and there's a fairly clean toilet at the back of the bus. The only downside was that there wasn't any wifi (at least on our bus), but it's no biggie as the views are gorgeous and the film(s) they show pretty entertaining. 

I would definitely recommend taking Mekong Express if you're thinking about crossing the border to HCMC, or any other place within or outside Cambodia. The prices vary depending on your destination (ours was $14 each) but I would say that they are pretty affordable. You can check out their bus schedule and prices here. 

Stay tuned for my future posts of a few of my favourite places to visit while in Ho Chi Minh City, a place that I hold near and dear to my heart. 

Happy discovering!