Cambodia into Vietnam

After a week in Cambodia it was time to cross the border into Vietnam. The roads in Cambodia are of varying quality, mostly bad being fondly refered to as ‘rock and roll’ out here. The roads are slightly wider than your average single carriage way British road, but not wide enough for the wild over taking manoeuvres favoured out here! Scooters tend to stick to the dirt paths on the side of the road.

While driving through a town in the middle of nowhere in Cambodia I noticed this working elephant, not used in the tourism trade but still to do hard manual work.

Many of these long straight roads were built by the Americans, but are still often deceptively bumpy.

We arrived at the Cambodian and Vietnamese border, which is really just a raised through rice fields with a couple of shacks and a road block. Various passport and visa checking went on, a nod to the border guards and we were off within half an hour or so.

Very quickly after crossing the border into Vietnam the signs of a more developed country became apparent, better roads, more electricity pylons and large scale infrastructure projects. The men digging the roads up in Vietnam were wearing high vis clothing and using modern machinery. Of course the endless rice fields continue to dominate the landscape, the still reflective water only occasionally being disturbed by wildlife.

The rice harvest in Vietnam happens around two months before Cambodia, due to the irrigation systems they have in place here, where as typically Cambodians have to rely heavily on the rain to harvest.

This evening we were to stay in the countryside in the Mekong Delta jungle surrounded by banana trees, lime and mint plants. We crossed this bamboo bridge into the village as dusk set in.

Passing by a local family they happily gathered around eating their dinner and offered us rice wine. Rice wine is very strong and is somewhat of an acquired taste, but is perfectly drinkable. All sorts of insects are added to it to enhance the flavour.

This was the outside of the huts I spent the night in, I had one of the best nights sleep in ages here protected by a large pink mosquito net, this area now being in the Mekong Delta where malaria is still present. It was almost silent except for the buzzing of insets outside, a pleasant escape after the noisy intense Pnomn Penhn.