TLC - go chasing waterfalls

27.03. - Kampot - Ho Chi Minh City

After a once again early start at 6 am I hopped on my bus to Phnom Penh, where I arrived at noon. I took a motortaxi to the Okay Guesthouse and had a quick lunch - there, I met into Rosy and Amilia who we met in Vientiane before. Funny we always bump into the same people along the way.
My bus to Ho Chi Minh City left around 1.30 and I got prepared for a looong journey. I sat next to a Canadian guy (John) who was born in Phnom Penh and spoke English, Japanese, Khmer and Vietnamese! He had been to Ho Chi Minh frequently and gave me loads of advice. Clearing customs was no problem, since we all had a visa already.
As we approached Ho Chi Minh around 7, John got so worried when I told him I'm going to take a taxi to Eva's house and warned me that this is a quite criminal city and Eva lives in a drug-district (which turned out to be soo wrong )...he insisted we take a cab together and as we reached Eva's street he made me wait in the taxi, just so he could run to her alley and make her meet me on the main street!
It was so good to see Eva again!! I thanked John and wanted to give him 5 USD for the cab, but he refused to take my money - instead he squeezed my hand passing me 300.000 VND (around 20 USD), saying I should take money from him, because I am still a student...he was so persistent and rejecting was an impossible encounter. Insanely nice guy.
Eva and I went for dinner to a local kitchen right by her house and had another beer before heading to bed after this long day. Her place is so nice - I'm almost not used to this kind of "luxury" anymore, like having a hairdryer and hot water!!

28.03. - Ho Chi Minh City
Eva left for work around 9 and I got up not too long after and I wanted to cash some checks at the Vietcom bank first...it was easier said than done - all the clerks were passing around my check saying they can't accept it because the signature is slightly different than in my passport. Eventually I convinced them and came out a millionaire...weird currency.
I walked along Hai Ba Trung for a while, which is a major street leading to the center and passed the Notre Dame cathedral before visiting the Reunification Palace - it reflects a lot of Vietnamese history and is quite interesting to see. I spent about 2 hours in there and then went to the famous Ben Than Market. The vendors in there are so aggressive though, on every corner you hear - "Madam, Madam, buy something...", I didn't find anything interesting inside except I finally got some new flip flops and I almost hit the ground with my old ones from Don Det. Around 6 o'clock all the vendors set up their stands outside and the merchandise is a lot more interesting there - I quickly bought a dress and then took a cab to Eva's house - not a smart idea during rush hour, I probably would have needed the same amount of time walking.
At home, Eva, Quinn and I got ready to go out - first stop was at a Japanese restaurant, in which we ordered all kinds of meats and veggies to make our own soup - interesting! We drove to our next stop with Chang's car, which was a club downtown, which was destined for the HCM's upper class - Eva and I were the only Westerners in there with no intention to meet a prostitute (there were quite a few of them inside and the security got angry if anyone took pictures int the bar...I suppose they are afraid of their reputation). Eva's colleagues were so funny, we were all doing some crazy dancing and had good fun.
We wanted to leave to another place around 1.30 but our plans got crushed when Quinn fainted outside of the club and once again on the street, so we just took a cab home.

29.03 - Ho Chi Minh City
We slept in so nicely today and got ready around 11 to do some power-shopping! After breakfast we went to almost all the stores on Hai Ba Trung Road I think . At one of the stores we found a true prom-queen-paradise of dresses - I wanted to try them all, they were so beautiful! Eva and I picked out a few, but the sales clerk took half of them away from us advising us they wouldn't fit and we should take size XL!! Great... We shared a fitting room and the clerks came in all the time, even when we were naked they would come in and watch
I bought a beautiful red silk dress for almost 1 Million Dong (it is worth it though and I am hoping for an occasion to wear it soon
A few stores further I bought another dress - when I tried it on and stepped out of the fitting room, the clerk was grabbing my boobs and bum - those guys are quite touchy here
After a quick lunch stop we headed to the Backpacker's District, buying some more stuff and then went to meet Eva's friend Christine at the Coffee Brewers on Le Loi Street - the place has a movie theater and the third floor and it was bliss just to sit there and watch a movie! Afterwards we walked over to Ben Than Market to meet Julia, Eva's new neighbor and colleague after Quinn moved out. Had some dinner and shopped a little more, I helped Eva to get almost all of her presents to take home for decent prices - since I have so much practice in bargaining by now. We went to bed quite hyped up today - we were so exhausted around 1 am but still couldn't sleep

30.03. - HCMC
Got up at 7am still beat-tired to drive to the Backpacker's District to meet Christine in front of STA Travel. We wanted to go on a day-trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels and our first stop was at a temple of the Cao Dai religion, where we had a chance to see a ceremony. We kind of felt like in a zoo though - there were just too many tourists and most of them were dressed inappropriately, talking loudly and taking pictures with flash during the ceremony - we were a bit ashamed to be part of the group. At 2 pm we arrived at the Cu Chi Tunnels and our guide "John Wayne" as he liked to call himself took us on a roundtrip of the site and we had a chance to crawl inside the tunnel system - scary experience, especially if you are claustrophobic. The Communist Rebells back in the days had built 3 different tunnel levels, the lowest being only 50 times 20 cm in circumference, unbelievable people could last there with poor ventilation and so little room. Along the way we saw few tanks and traps, remainders of the war. Whoever wanted also had the chance to get a rifle and shoot few times...
We got back to the BP-District around 5 and I quickly booked my trip to Siem Reap - we went to Ben Than Market once again and met Julia for dinner. I was daring enough to eat a frog that night - tasted a bit like chicken, not bad! We were so beat from the heat, that we just went home to watch a movie at Eva's house.

31.03. HCMC
Eva had to work again, so I met up with Julia at 9, it was her last day before starting work and we spoiled ourselves with some really good breakfast at the Windows Cafe, a quite fancy place, full of Vietnamese people. Around 11 we arrived at the War Museum, which is quite shocking to visit, and not the right thing to do after breakfast. From there we took a motorbike to meet Eva for lunch and in the afternoon we drove down to the riverside and sat at a bench there before a big truck came by and covered us in dirt entirely. We went to the Majestic Hotel to wash up and took a stroll on the rooftop terrace which offers an amazing view over the city. We also went to see a picture exhibit and bought some more souvenirs and then walked over into the busy Backpacker's District once again from where I took a motorbike to the old Post Office, which is a big tourist attraction. Wrote couple of postcards there and then went to the market to buy some flowers for Eva - I got a huge bouquet for only 4 USD! This night we just took it easy again and went for dinner by Eva's house and for another beer somewhere on the street. Ho Chi Minh it sooo nice, but so incredibly busy, it really wears you out. We watched another movie in the evening and i desperately tried to squeeze everything into my backpack, which is sooo maxed out by now, I can hardly close it!

01.04. - Day 47 - Ho Chi Minh City/Sihanoukville to Siem Reap
I got up insanely early once again (5.30am!!) and could hardly say my goodbyes to Eva - she insisted I'd wake her the day before but she was half-asleep when I left
I took the bus from one of the countless tour operators in the Backpackers District, we boarded around 6.30. the guy next to me was a bit too chatty and I just wanted to sleep so badly. We changed buses in Phnom Penh and coincidence wants it that the girl (Nam) who sat next to me on the bus was one of Eva's former colleagues at Indochica, who had just finished her internship and the company paid for her trip to Siem Reap as a goodbye present. This world is just too small! Our bus was awful, no leg room and no A/C and we broke down (motor damage) after an hour somewhere on the road. This and the various other food-stops along the way (sometimes there is nothing that you would even eat in those places - one of the women at our afternoon stop was chasing us with fried spiders...) held us up so much, so we only arrived in Siem Reap at 8 - this was definitely my longest bus-trip so far!
We met Dunja again at the Garden Village GH and had dinner on the rooftop together before dropping into bed!