Traveling has always been a great experience especially with friends. There would be non-stop and I mean friendly bashing and endless banters! So when I found out that the group will be traveling again, I cannot help but to get excited!
48hrs before the flight me and a couple of friends, who I will be traveling with, met up for a cup of coffee and finally talk about the last minute things to do before this epic trip. And that 48hrs has left me sleepless.
*Fast forward on the date of departure*
It was like forever at the check-in counter. I can hear other passengers behind us complaining and giving a big sigh. The group before us was having difficulty on their baggage allowance. They must have to pay an excess baggage that they had to unpacked their luggage right at the check-in counter and maximize the allowed check-in baggage.
When It was finally our groups’ turn I’m proud to say that it didn’t take long for us to get our boarding pass, I didn’t see people behind us raising their eyebrows or even rolling their eyes on our group because it’s taking so long or whatever. lol.
At boarding we had to transfer on a different gate but surprisingly the plane was on time. It was unbelievable! On the plane my seatmate on the right was a French girl named Celeste who’s to visit an old friend in Ho Chi Minh for 3 weeks. We get to chat every possible moment, she’s very chatty.
I learned that she’s studying in Manila (exchange student) taking up religious studies or something in some prestigious catholic university. She got ecstatic when she learned that our group will go straight to Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat, it turns out that she’s been to the place several times as volunteer for a foundation helping the children of Cambodia and as she tell the stories about it, I saw in her eyes how she was completely heartbroken with the situation of the children.
Jun-7-13, Sunday / 10:30PM – Left Manila, Philippines
Jun-8-13, Monday / 01:30AM – Arrived Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Jun-8-13, Monday / 01:30AM – Arrived Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
The weather in Ho Chi Minh when we arrived was pretty much like Manila at night time. We passed immigration effortlessly w/o any questions and we headed to the baggage carousel for our luggage. After we gathered our luggage we get to see an open foreign exchange right before we exit the airport. As I have not exchange my money yet to Dong nor Dollar, I decided to have it exchanged right there and then.
Since we won’t be staying that long in Vietnam not until on our 5th and 6th day I decided not to exchange all my money yet. For PHP3,000 I got VND1.5 Million. Yeah! Million!! Finally I already felt to have a million!!! Hahahahahaha!
We stayed for an hour at the airport to charge our phones and discuss our plans for the night. Fortunately my BlackBerry Z10 was not having fast draining battery issues that I don’t really need to charge it that long. After an hour stay we all agreed to go down town already and just stay in one place where we can just hang out while we wait for our boarding time with Mekong Express – a bus liner that will bring us to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We took a cab at the airport who priced us VND100,000 per head. There are 6 of us traveling and we felt like the priced asked was too much so we bargained. VND500,000 for 6 people, well okay.. not much of a good bargain, I felt we could have done better but we’re too hungry already to insist besides the airport is quite far from the place where we want to be, District 1 where Mekong Express terminal is.
Allez BooPhoto Credit: http://www.vietnam720.com
It’s 2AM and Saigon downtown was still very much alive! Foreigners were on the street drinking, partying, bargaining and socializing with the locals. We had to look for a place to eat but we don’t see any familiar food chain around. We saw this bar and restaurant around the corner ‘Allez Boo’ the waitress was courteous enough to let us in and offer their table. We asked if we can stay until 6AM she said yes so we guess it’s a perfect spot.
We’re starving and good thing I brought this small viand (Menudo) with me which I cooked back home so I ordered a rice and a chicken sandwich. Yes I was that FuNgry (F*cking Hungry) While I refused to have an alcohol intake I got curious on how their beer tastes like, so when Valerie ordered three different kinds of beer (Hanoi, Saigon and Angkor) I took a sip just to satisfy my curiosity. The verdict? I still love my San Miguel Beer. lol!
Waiting time at Allez Boo
So while we wait for the time we get to chat and befriend the servers. It was quite difficult at first because of the language barrier but eventually we get to understand each other. The next thing we know we’re giving our Facebook names and adding each other – it was crazy! I know we’re supposed to be exhausted especially me since I haven’t gotten any sleep yet for the past 2 days but I just feel so alive! lol.
As soon as we saw a tiny light from the sunrise we cannot help but to get excited to get on the bus and retire and get rested at least. lol. By 6:30AM we said our goodbyes to Allez Boo who welcomed us and we found our way to the bus terminal which is just on the other side of the big park and since our seats have been long booked online we get to have the first two row seats! Yey!
We are supposed to meet our 3 other friends who came a day earlier in Vietnam, so there will be 9 of us on this trip, originally we were 10 but the other one had to cancel because of his father’s passing. I got nervous because it’s already 7AM and we still haven’t seen them, the bus was about to leave. As I saw them with Jose, who came to fetch them on the other side of the park, I cannot help but to get more excited and happy. The more the merrier!
As much as I wanted to get a snooze, I can’t just sleep and not see Saigon, can I?! As the bus moves and head to the main road, motorbikes have started to catch my attention. There are so many of them! It’s like every person in Vietnam owns a motorbike. I swear I didn’t see that much bikes on the road in my entire life. Even the ladies on high heels drives one. There’s just so much that their government allotted a motorbike lane for them, it was unbelievable!
There’s just so much to like about the place. One thing is the Wi-Fi connection. They’re free – everywhere!! Whenever there is a traffic, even if I’m in a bus and I just search for a connection, I will definitely be able to connect to any available wi-fi in the area courtesy of the establishments near the road and it has no password. The only problem is, when the bus moves then your connection will be cut-off. lol.
It’s gonna take 3 to 4 hours before we get to Cambodia’s border as per our conductor. I was happy to finally get a yawn and it didn’t take long for me get a sleep, finally! When I woke up we are already approaching the province of Moc Bai. On part 2 you’ll see and hear more about this trip.
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