Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh

On day four, we took a $13 bus ride to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (formally called Saigon). WAY cheaper than flying. It was about a six and a half hour ride but really scenic and quite the experience going over the border.

We did a lot of research ahead of time to make sure we knew the proper procedure for obtaining visas. It was easy in Phnom Penh - fly into the airport and get your Cambodian visa for $20 on site. When you enter into a country through a means other than an airport however, it gets a little trickier.

Basically, on our Phnom Penh city tour the first day, our guide made a pit stop for us to a travel agency so we could hand over our passports and get an expedited Vietnam visa, meaning we could pick it up the next day. It was definitely unnerving to hand over our passports, but this is simply the way it is done, and that was confirmed in all of our research. It was a little more expensive with the expedition, but was still only about $40 each.

The Vietnam visa is obviously a necessity when crossing the border, so I was really glad we trusted the system.

The bus was fairly comfortable and they provided bottled water.

The ENTIRE trip, meaning all 6ish hours, they played this HORRIBLE Cambodian musical show on the TV up front. It was a neat cultural experience for the first five minutes, but it was SO loud and annoying! My iPod couldn't even begin to drown it out, LOL.

The next pictures are just shots out my window at the scenery we passed.

We had to take a ferry across the river, so these mango vendors were permitted on the bus to sell their fruit while we waited in line.

There were two ferries loading buses and cars

The view out my window on the ferry.

A few miles before the Vietnam border, the bus stopped at a roadside restaurant where we ordered a couple entrees and iced coffee.

They use sweetened condensed milk in their coffee. DELICIOUS!

That's a picture of the durian fruit... more on our experience with that nastiness to come ;-)

Ho Chi Minh had a much more updated and European feel than Phnom Penh. It was decorated for the Chinese New Year celebration, so there were flowers and gold decorations EVERYWHERE.

In Phnom Penh, dollars were accepted everywhere. Not so in Ho Chi Minh. Our cab driver from the bus station stopped at a jeweler for Joel to exchange enough money to pay him for taking us to our hotel. Not the best exchange rate. We did most of our exchanging at ATMs.

Our cab driver.

Looks European, right?

We were on the bus from about 0830 until 1600. It wasn't a bad trip at all, although at least an hour of it was spent at the border. It was kinda ridiculous how many hoops you have to jump through and how inefficient their process is to get people across. But, we made it and we met some Americans who were teaching English in Ho Chi Minh that were coming back from a backpacking trip in Cambodia so it was neat to talk to them. You really do meet lots of cool people from all over the world on trips like this. :)

Phnom Penh - Wildlife Refuge

Day 3 in Phnom Penh was AWESOME. We signed up for a jeep tour to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, about an hour and half outside the city. There were about 10 folks on the tour, 6 of us rode in the back of the jeep and the other 4 had the luxury of an air conditioned Camry. Trust me, we preferred the Jeep. We like keeping it real. :)

 This refuge is wonderful rescue agency for abused animals that people try to make pets or capture to eat or sell on the black market. It's terrible to think how much animals can suffer because of human ignorance. But, these cirtters are living the life at this refuge and we were able to see that first hand.

We all met at a Cafe to begin the trip. We definitely took advantage of the French press coffee. I originally asked for an iced coffee but their ice hadn't been delivered yet, LOL. It actually came right before we left. A truck pulled up and a giant chunk of ice was taken from the trunk and given to the cafe owner to grind up himself. Hilarious! And kind of unsanitary if I think too much about it...

Sculptures at the entrance to the refuge.

 

 

 

We were able to be hands on with a lot of the animals.

 

We bought sweet potatoes and sugar cane to feed to the critters.

This is an albino deer!

This guy (a Lesser Adjutant, a type of stork) actually got perturbed with us and we had to move away quickly so as not to get into a brawl, LOL

This gibbon LOVES our guide, Ms Vathana, and hadn't seen her in a few weeks so he was very lovey toward her.

We weren't supposed to use flash because it upsets the animals, but I accidentally took a picture with flash and this little guy gave me the worst stink eye... glad I didn't start something.

 

This is a Silvered Lagur. Apparently he had a harem of girls in the back but they remained shy while he came forward to eat the sweet potatoes we had.

These are Leopard cats... sorry the picture is blurry but they were the size of, if not smaller, than house cats! So folks get the wrong idea that they can domesticate them, but they do not make good pets. They're beautiful though, absolutely beautiful.

The jeep

Ms Vathana made us a TON of food. This is just one of about 5 dishes she made. Delicious curries!

We sat on these tables and ate family style.

The dishes... glad we didn't have to clean up!

A banner with some of the Cambodian sodas - interesting flavors

Within the grounds of the refuge, we all crammed in the jeep to get around. Joel and Italian John hung on to the back

A sun bear! We learned so much about how these poor critters are abused (and eaten!) so we were really happy to see how well cared for and happy they are at the refuge.

Getting cozy :)

Don't they have the cutest faces?!

Joel's new pal

We were a matter of feet away from tigers. They are graceful, beautiful and frightening. They definitely have a presence and when one roared at us, I literally jumped back a few feet. You gotta take these guys seriously!

Here he looks cute and relaxed, but you gotta always be wary.

We had SO much fun feeding and petting Lucky the elephant. She was very friendly and completely spoiled by all the sugar cane she gets from guests!

Lucky taking a walk with her trainer

Joel throwing food at some of the other elephants... these ones aren't as trustworthy out on the loose with visitors. The refuge has had Lucky since she was a baby, so she was more human friendly.

One of the employees daughters. What a cutie!!

We had a wonderful, educational tour at the wildlife refuge and are so grateful for the experience! We met some fascinating folks from all over the globe and enjoyed every minute of the trip. A big shout out to Lauren and Kali! :)