After about 5 hours on a bus we arrived in the small yet bustling city of Chau Doc. We were about to embark on an adventure the following day and this is where it would begin. The plan was to take a boat up the Mekong River and cross the Vietnam and Cambodian border this way. You know throw a little wrench in the bus adventures we had limited ourselves to for the past month.
As always we needed a place to stay. The four of us got a room for $10. TOTAL! I will leave it up to your imagination how clean, warm, and comfortable place this was. Once again I tried getting some US dollars, with once again, NO LUCK! We stumbled upon a great local restaurant that a Lonely Plant Guide recommended and I had the best bowl of soup since my Pho. Chicken with no bones or skin, juicy little mushrooms, greens for flavor and some homemade chili sauce to spice it up a bit. Yummmmmy!
The four of us got a good nights rest and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed! We started off the day with getting picked up by bikes with benches attached to the back. Two by two we were peddled to the docks to get some grub and coffee before hoping on the slow boat.
A few surprises and options became available as the morning went on. We were told we got a tour of a floating village and a fish farm to start the day off before the ride to Cambodia. The boat already forgot about us, so once they turned around they brought us to see the feeding of the fish..which consisted of a lot of splashing around and kicking fish that flopped out back into the water! Greedy little guys! Then we walked around a small village, that was not floating. We tried some local coconut pancakes cooked over fire in pots and I bought myself a cute little beaded bracelet.
It was finally time to hop on the boat that would take us to all the riverside checkpoints.We just had to fill out some paperwork, pay some $$ and the crew took care of the rest of it. We got on and off at 2 different places. The 2nd stop is where we got our Cambodia visa, our stamp and passports checked then we were off to spend another 5 hours crusin down the river.
Here is the catch. One of the crew guys kept telling us to take the fast boat that would get us in at 3PM instead of 6PM. We were fine taking a long boat ride. We paid for it and we knew what we were getting ourselves into. He was offering us some great deals though if we would switch. We chose not to as did two other British girls. At the final moment as were were waiting for the slow boat to pick us up right after we crossed the river border...and all the other people were switching to the fast boat....this guys was like, ""okokokok...just go, just go on the fast boat. My gift to you" Ha! So we concluded that we scammed the scammers without meaning to! We don't even think there was a slow boat....just a fast boat that they would charge you extra for. So we gave ourselves all one bonus point!
I would like to report I am sunburn. Being the sun goddess that I am I chose to lay on the roof of both boats. I think I was up there on and off for maybe an 1 1/2 hours. LOBSTER FACE.
We made it into Phnom Penh and even had a fellow by the name of Tony meeting us here to show us the ins and outs of this city. My last two posts I write from Phnoom Penh, Cambodia.
It had been a very eventful 24 hours since we got here. I can't wait to write about it but I still have some processing to do on some of the events and history I came face to face with today. Along with some eye opening experiences and stories we have had some simply amazing food. Speaking of food...we have dinner to get ready for and bus tickets to buy for tomorrow!
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