This day, I again started early as I had 120km to ride and a border to cross.
It was nice to see again a group dancing (ok, here it was more exercising) on the last day like on my first day in Cambodia.
This last day brought things that I had been used to through these days but had nearly forgotten that they had been different to Malaysia or Thailand:
I saw many more young dogs and chicken in Cambodia.
In the morning, between 7-8, many people “burn” waste and green leaves and grass etc, producing mainly smoke. Most shops sell fuel in 1,5-Coke-bottles. (First, I thought it would be delicious juice….).
In Cambodia are less sidecars than in Thailand and less street signs and nearly no speed bumps. Only on this last day, I found the only Cambodian working men sign for Michael (and the streets were worse than normal, so, at least, it was logic ? ).
Today, finally a young man on his motorcycle “took” as he said, “his first chance to talk to a foreigner”. But he was in a hurry, so it was only a few words drowned in the traffic noise.
That reminds me on the effect this year of bike travelling will have on my ears. Never before, I had been exposed so long and so intensively to the traffic noise that covers the habitable surface of our planet.
Back to Cambodia – after 70km, I reached the border and there were not many signs for that, only a big casino building in decay or now in renovation.
The Cambodia officer just waved me through, but the Vietnamese officer sent me back for a stamp in the passport. Then, he gave me his stamp, two times I had to stop for additional controls of the stamp and I was in Vietnam.
First, there was nearly nothing. Only a few cafés/ cá phês that seem to dominate Vietnam’s street life.
After a few km, I reached the first village and saw many more motorcycles than in the other countries.
The Buddhist street temples that I know from Thailand are rather poor, about those other religiuos buildings, I write in a later blog post (day 151 (?) )
Here, the tractors look more like those I know, (not those long vehicles like in Cambodia) and farmers have these typical straw hats that I associate with a China-stereotype.
More adults and less kids (ok, I also saw less kids) waved hello here.
I saw sugar cane everywhere, and people selling the fresh pressed juice.
I arrived at the location that I had found in 3 different sources for the hotel, but there was none and people spoke much less English than in Cambodia and then showed me the way to another hotel. But then, there was a boy who spoke English very well and knew the place.
Later, I felt a bit uncomfortable with this place, because it seems to have another main purpose (there are prices for an hour for a room and some other signs. Besides that, I wonder if they changed the linen…).
When I later bought water, some food and a SIM card, I had a better feeling than in Cambodia regarding “extra prices”.
I thought that more Westerners would come to Vietnam than to Cambodia (except for Angkor Wat) but at least more people reacted surprised to see me, also without bike.