When it came time to leave Cambodia I knew it would pull on my heartstrings. It's hard to explain why a place touches your heart as it does but it almost feels as if you are leaving a part of yourself behind and taking something incredibly beautiful with you. Usually what you take by far exceeds what you have left. It is something that changes the very core of who you are. I am humbled in these moments and begin to get a glimpse of a perspective that is so much greater than I am. And, while there is so much beauty to be seen in this area, for me, it is just the people I meet and the circumstances of those meetings. I met a lovely woman on the bus who was from Jamaica who had been living in Cambodia for the last five years. Her name was Hellmore and she taught English. We had a lovely time chatting about the area and suddenly she asked me what I thought about Cambodia. While I may never remember her exact question to me I will never forget the intensity of my answer. I explained to her that the real beauty of our travels were the unexpected delights. I read and study an area before we go but I love the part where I am caught off guard by something that is unexpectedly beautiful. And while the Temples of Angkor are spectacular, it usually an interaction or insight into someone else's life that does it for me. I started to cry when I told her that and she did too. We exchanged email addresses and we shall see what happens next...
Our travels from Cambodia to Vietnam went smoothly. Our bus was new and comfortable and we got situated quickly and were ready for our travels. It really is a beautiful way to go as you get to see a different side of life. It is a mix of both foreigners and locals. We took a ferry across the Mekong River and made a stop on the other side for a bowl of soup and soon we are ready to cross the border. For those of us used to international travel from…well anywhere really, the border crossing from Cambodia to Vietnam is pretty lax. Our bus driver collected all of our passports after we walked through the exit border of Cambodia. We walk over to the Vietnamese border and waited in the 'passport control' area. Here the agent stamps all of our passports and then the bus drivers assistant calls us by name and we pick up our passport and walk on over to the other side and re-enter the bus. If there are any problems the security officer will let you know…otherwise that's it.
The scenery changes and again I can not explain what happens as we leave one country and enter another. I am remembering that my favorite place is the place that I am in at this moment so I begin to get excited as we enter Vietnam. We plan to spend sometime in Saigon and on the Mekong River and then meander North. We will let you know...
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