Onwards to Vietnam

11th June, 2007.

With a majority vote on how we were going to Vietnam, we decided to take a taxi the border crossing closest to Tinh Bien.

The taxi (again another Toyota Corolla) with busted air con and cracked windscreen picked the three of us at our GST guesthouse. In hindsight now the bus may of been more comfortable, but we took a 4 or 5 hour taxi ride to Tinh Bien. It rained a few times during the trip, and with the defogger not working, it made for a hazardous but uneventful journey.

With one car change over we arrived at the border just after midday. The Vietnamese officials took a little while to peruse our passports. When satisfied they allowed us to cross—into nothing.

Chau Doc was no where to be seen, and there was no bus or public transport to this town. However, we were approached by several "Motto" taxis which agreed to take us to Chau Doc to catch the bus to Can Tho. You can read more about the trip here, but in the end it cost us three times as much as taking the bus to Ho Chi Min city.The upside is that it saved us a day in back-tracking.