romarampa's travel and leisure stories: Scenes on the Road

Showing posts with label Scenes on the Road. Show all posts

Monday, September 8, 2014

Scenes on the Road: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Phnom Penh City, Cambodia

I took a bus from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Cambodia for a very good reason that I love road travels.

Read why Road Travel is the way to go.

I left Saigon at 6:30 AM aboard a Sinh Tourist bus. Travel time from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Phnom Penh City, Cambodia is 6-7 hours. I know it's a whole lot of time, but if I did not took this bus ride, it would have costed me at least 200 USD via Skyscanner rates.

Here are snapshots of the scenes on the road from Vietnam to Cambodia. All photos were taken inside the bus while moving across the two countries :)

You know you are still in Vietnam as long as you can still read
signage written in Roman Alphabet, with different signs and pnctuations

From Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh City, a road travel would pass by several cities first including My Tho and Can Tho both in Southern Vietnam, and both are located at the Mekong Delta Region.

Since I was coming from Vietnam going to another country, of course I needed to cross a border - at Moc Bai Border Gate in Tay Ninh Province in Vietnam. On the other end is the Bavet Border Gate in Svay Rieng Province in Cambodia.

Read full details (costs, bus lines, travel hours, procedure) about bus travel from Vietnam to Cambodia.

Upon entering the border, a road lined with casinos greeted me, this is in Bavet.

Le Macau Casino and Hotel

Titan King Casino

Then a couple of kilometers of dirt road and countryside view.

Cambodian kids riding a motorcycle, without helmet!

You know you're in Cambodia because of this ornate arch

A few minutes later and we're aboard a RORO (roll on, roll off) ferry.

vendors aboard the ferry

After crossing the river, a grand entrance like this (below) is visible on the left side. It says "Grand Star Plaza" at the gate, but I cannot find further information about it. It looks like an entrance to a very posh village.

The towers are lovelier with the dark skies behind them

After passing this, we went to a few kilometers of dirt road again before finally entering another city, the Takhmao City, Kandal Province.

Easy to saw that it is a city because of the big establishments, traffic build up and modern buildings.

Then a bridge with a view like this:

The bus travel, although very long was well worth it. I loved the sceneries and it was quite a quiet ride.

The bus was just an ordinary provincial bound a/c bus, nothing special, but it was worth it. I had time to think, sleep and enjoy the view in good proportions. :)

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Why I Love Road Travels

Posted by roma on September 07, 2014 in Road Travels, Scenes on the Road,

I love road travels. Especially to a foreign land or another country, even if air travel is available.
I have four good reasons:

1. I can see the environment, the landmarks, the architecture, the natural surroundings, the modes of land transportation, and the people, sometimes even some surprising events, like a feast of a diety with a street parade, or a street dance by kids in a sidewalk. Or the rising or setting sun by the far horizon.

A shot from the car, Manila to Zambales, via SCTEX

2. I love sightseeing. And the best way to see the sights is by traveling by land.

3. It gives me time to think - about a lot of things - in a relaxed way. Even when I am just in the city, in a cab or a bus, my mind drifts away. I get to think of the things that I need to do, or remember what I should be doing when I get back home. Sometimes I ever remember where some of my lost things are. And this time to think is basically just passing time. Can't do much in a bus or a cab, or jeepney (as in the Philippines) and I get to think about things that I would not normally think about if I was at work, or at home doing...well, work.

4. The moment lasts. It is like when you eat alone and savour your food. In a road travel, I get to savour the moment, there is enough time for me to realise how beautiful a countryside is, how different a city is to another city, how awesome a night can be when all I see are lightly lit small houses by the sidewalk and the stars above it. Of course I also see the bad, which is not bad afterall. dirt and rocky roads in the countryside, cities with all kinds of traffics, poverty in the streets. But I appreciate the experience of seeing all these in my own eyes. Just by doing road travel.

5. It is much cheaper than air travel, with the added perks of 1, 2, 3 and 4.

See some scenes on the road here while I do road travels.