From the moment I arrived near the border with Vietnam I started to hear English again. It was a nice sound after 30 hours of silence and sign language. It was actually guys that had been on the bus from Nanning that in the seat swapping near the border both turned to me and said 'hello'. They were young engineers, practising their English and very friendly which was useful as even on the Vietnamese side all the directions were given to my bus in Chinese (I was still the only westerner).
On arrival in Hanoi I went straight to the backpacker district and stayed at the originally named Hanoi backpackers. Arriving there at 10pm, the place was in full swing with a packed bar and music blaring, but by the time I'd got myself showed and ready they were closing and heading on the 'pub crawl'. Bars in Hanoi are meant to close at midnight so a pub crawl means going to wherever the police haven't shut down yet. First it was a really cheesy club, the hair of the dog, then a bar where you had to knock on the shutter and be let in through the back entrance, up some stairs and through someone's house, but on arriving there were fantastic cheese toasties :-)
Day 2 my friends from home arrived and were staying at one of their brother's places who had been teaching English in Hanoi so I checked out of the backpackers to join them. The people we stayed with were the friendliest bunch we could've hoped for. We were taken around and shown the best places to go - from seeing in the dawn at the local flower market, to a real Indian yoga class and even a London underground drum and bass night! If anyone reading this is up for checking out the expat scene in Hanoi I would recomend the facebook group Hanoi Masive for up to date info on everything from nights out to engligh teaching jobs.
Leaving Hanoi took longer than expected as a storm delayed my journey for two days. On the journey I met this lovely old couple that without speaking a word of english invited me to share their breakfast and join them in meditation and by the time I got to Hoi An it was beautful and sunny. I was able to walk along the river path which had been flooded a couple of days previously and take a complete tour of the oldtown before checking into the guesthouse everyone had recommended to me, the sunflower hotel.
The sunflower was where all the backpackers stayed, it was slightly out of town but had a pool, friendly staff and an amazing buffet breakfast. There were nearby Beer Hoi's and a friendly atmosphere. I can see why some people stay here a long time, I was there 2 nights, experienced Why Not? all you can drink and checked out marble mountain (which is one of the best cave/temples I've seen in Asia!) and was then ready for my journey down.
Not booking in advance, however, meant that trains and tourist buses were booked so I had to go on the local sleeper bus. The hotel manager actually said "the nice bus is booked, you''ll have to go on the not so nice sleeper bus" so I was pretty worried about my 24 hour journey down to HCM but it was fine! Nice bus, comfortable sleeper, and cheaper than the tourist bus.
In HCM I had one mission, find speakers for the bar. I initially had the idea of finding some sort of '80s boombox and roped in a fellow traveler (that had cycled to Vietnam from England via Turkey over the last year) to go on a mission to find one. Heading off in the direction of the electronics area we took a wrong turn and ended up on a back alley that had not much EXCEPT a little stall by the side of the road selling 90s boomboxes. The universe provides. Some may have thought this was fate, but nit quite having the $20 she was asking for one may also have been fate as when I explored further and found the electronics street the next day I was able to find xminis that were entirely more practical, yet less novelty. Although I would've loved to rock up back to the island with a boombox over my shoulder, the extra costs of getting batteries and a tape converter meant it just wasn't worth it.
Given confidence from my smooth bus journey to HCM I opted to ignore the tour guide advice that the best way to get to Kampot was via Phenom Phen and take a local bus to the border that had been recommended in a few blogs I read. The internet said the bus would leave at 9pm from the western bus station so the owner of my guesthouse recommended i get the bus at 7pm from the market. Bus number 2 would've got me there before 6pm but not at 7, so I got a motorbike over for $3. There are a few buses that go to the border so i was glad i had someone write sleeper bus on a piece of paper for me. Once I found the right stall it was easy, bus left at 8.30pm instead of 9 but I was early so that was fine and meant we arrived at 4.30am and I had time for a couple cups of tea on the other end before the border opened.
As I got off the bus, bleary eyed, a local guy offered me the ride to the border and bus to Kampot for $15. Just to the border would've been $5 and I may have been able to get it for $5 on a moto the other side too but may have been stranded and ripped off more so I was happy paying for a smooth transition at that time in the morning. It was a really smooth transition, he drove me through, had another coffee on the other side and the bus left for Kampot at 7.30am. In true Cambodian style it was a game of sardines on how many people you can fit in a minivan (we had 20 in a 10 seater on this journey).
On arrival in Kampot I headed straight for a guesthouse that I thought would've just opened,
Arcadia Backpackers. It hadn't opened yet, which actually worked out great for me. I was able to help out a bit with the varnishing and get a free bed to stay in. The location was beautiful, right on the riverside so I was able to start everyday with a swim and by high season the place will have everything to offer from canoes to motor buggies!
From there I did a quick tour of Bokor national park. Our "tourguide" was more of a taxi driver than a tourguide as he didn't speak enough Engligh to give us any information about the region, but did have a fantastic collection of power ballads on the car stereo. We cruised Bokor singing along to Ronan Keating but had to wait until we got back to learn anything about why there was a
deserted french casino in the middle of a national park.
I'm back on the island now and the winds have changed, high season is approaching and you can feel it in the air, things are going to get busy!
