Vietnam Day 8/Cambodia Day 1

Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh

Decided to sleep in today, so we didn't get up until about 9am. Even though we were 4 floors up with double glazing, you can still hear the traffic. I lay awake counting - the longest time period between hearing horns tooting was 2 seconds! Breakfast at the hotel. Sarah had a cup of tea that looked like they'd just waved a teabag over the hot water. She hasn't had much luck with tea over here - if you are coming to Vietnam, we suggest you carry teabags with you!

We went to the markets, but weren't really looking for anything. They had a big food section as well, it's fascinating to look at all of the fresh food, including fish and seafood that I couldn't identify (I think it might have been some form of sea slug. I saw it dried in packets as well). Sarah haggled with a seller, back and forth, until eventually the girl told her she was like the mafia!

We spent the rest of our morning trying to exchange our Dong to USD, just so we had enough to be able to pay for our visas on arrival into Cambodia. This turned out to be not only difficult, but well nigh impossible. After visiting 4 different banks, we finally asked why no-one would exchange, and he said that they don't hold USD in Vietnam. He then gave us an address, but we decided to leave it and exchange at the airport, which was fine. While we were sitting waiting for our flight, I was reading, and Sarah was playing a game on her iPad. I heard/saw her turn her head and say "Hello!" I thought she'd met someone she knew, but it turned out to be a little girl, hanging over the back of Sarah's chair, fascinated by the game. She stayed for ages, just watching the colours and the action.

Flying over Phnom Penh was beautiful. Huge swathes of bright green cultivated rectangular fields almost seem to float on brown rivers and streams of water. As we flew in, the sun was setting, so it appeared to set some of the water on fire. It was spectacular. 

Farewell Vietnam, hello Cambodia

When we arrived at the airport, we needed to fill in 4 different forms! There was an entry/exit form, a health declaration, a customs declaration and an application for a visa. The cost was $30 USD, and because we didn't bring a passport photograph with us, we had to pay a $2 fee each. The process was a little bit chaotic, but overall flowed well - much better and clearer than Vietnam. All of the people seem to be very friendly as well. When we passed through the final security screening, we were photographed and fingerprinted.

First impressions of Phnom Penh is that it is more sophisticated than Vietnam, which is not what I was expecting. US dollars is the primary (although unofficial) currency here, so not having to convert 15,000:1 will be a lot easier too (although the AUD is dropping quickly against USD). Only bad thing here is the number of mosquitoes. We'll have to see what it is like in the day time tomorrow.