Phu Quoc to Ho Chi Minh City

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

Friday night we went back to the Night Market and ate a few skewers of grilled shrimp at one little restaurant (excellent) and some calamari and vegetable spring rolls at another (not that good). Yesterday morning we had another great buffet in the hotel restaurant (excellent pho) before heading out for a walk on the beach. We got back at 11 am to clean up, pack up and check out by noon. Our transfer to the airport wasn't until 2 pm so we left our luggage at reception and walked back down the beach to our favourite beach restaurant. More beef pho for lunch for only 40,000 ($2) each.
The hotel van took us to the airport. We had thought the new fancy airport, much like a smaller version of the Ottawa airport, was closed because it looked so empty, but in fact it was open. It's not used for international flights yet but they're close to ready for that. Our flight was supposed to leave at 3:45 but was delayed until about 4:45. In the meantime we watched part one of an 8 part BBC "History of the World" that Dylan had taped for us and transferred to our computer. Plus we had a little sleep. I've had a cold for a few days so a little nap was welcome.
Getting on the plane was kind of funny. There are no skyways at the gates. Passengers have to get on an airport bus and be transferred to the plane, which we've done many times in Toronto, Frankfurt and other big terminals. Only this time, we drove about 200 metres to our plane which was the only one at the airport. We could have walked there faster.
The flying time to HCMC was only 40 minutes and our bags actually came out on the carousel this time. Our original driver on our Mekong Delta tour was there waiting for us and drove us to our hotel, the Ngoc Minh again (3rd time).
We had called Dylan from the airport when we got in. He and Kasumi met us at our hotel and we all went out to our favourite restaurant here with all the different stations for different dishes. Then it was back to our hotel for some tylenol for me and 9 hours sleep.
This morning we had breakfast on the rooftop as usual. We chatted with a German woman and a brother and sister from Switzerland. We all traded travel tips. Malaysia sounds like a good destination for future travels.
We shopped at about 6 different travel agencies down the street (this is the backpacker area) and decided on a bus to Phnom Penh leaving at 8:30 tomorrow morning. The prices ranged from $10 to $13 US each but looking at them all, we decided on the $13 bus. It's non-stop, has a toilet, nice seats and a guide (flight attendant) as well as driver. At the border the guide will take all of our passports and $25 US each to get our Cambodia visas for us. We should arrive in downtown Phnom Penh (PP) about 2:30 or 3:00 pm. We've emailed our schedule to Anita's brother Tim who's already in PP with 2 friends from Combermere, Mike Bellisle and Ernie Perrier. If we don't connect with Tim at the Orussey Market where we arrive, we'll take a tuktuk (motorcycle taxi) to the GGP Hotel where Tim has reserved a room for us. Wednesday, the five of us are heading for Sihanoukville on the coast.
This afternoon Kasumi has to check out some craft shops in HCMC for the Japanese travel agency that she works for so the rest of us are going to tag along. Then tonight we'll go out for another delicious dinner, I'm sure.
Next stop Phnom Penh!