WE left Kampot from the same bus station as we'd arrived, very conveniently, and began the journey to the Vietnamese border. Thankfully, the road was better and the stops shorter than on the way there so we arrived not drastically late. We left Cambodia in a building that had the air of a something that was once great reduced to decrepitude, just about managing to carry out the dregs of its former duties inside its old shell, which was much decayed but carrying the shadow of its former grandiosity. A colossal wreck that still had a job to do. The entrance and exit were confusing and difficult to find, almost as if it was embarrassed, and inside booths and counters abounded along the walls، but all had long since been made redundant and left to the dust and the spiders. The one room that remained in use had two or three passport control counters that functioned as necessary, though they were alone in that respect. There were a couple of large rotary fans stationed around them, and I wonder at what point the AC units that remained in the high ceiling were declared a write-off or if they continue to try to flog them into functioning. Two booths on one side of the room supposed to offer cash exchange and tourist information, and maybe they still did if you asked for it though the immigration officer using them would have to have lungs of steel to survive the dust and the mould. In stark contrast to the rest of the scene, there was a vast golden engraving of some legendary scene on the wall behind the passport booths: a singular point of pride and motivation for the place, based on an ancient, long since faded golden age.
The most notable event that happened whilst we were inside which I'm not going to try and put into my metaphor because I don't have the time was that a Dutch couple who had been told that they didn't need a visa to enter Vietnam were told that they did - which was true, the Netherlands is not on the list of countries with a 45-day visa exemption. They were told to go to to the Vietnamese border to ask about it. When the rest of us had entered Vietnam, paying a dollar to have someone point a thermometer at our face to give us health clearance, and were sitting at the roadside cafe, the Vietnamese border officials very graciously let one of them come into Vietnam to tell us the news - that no they couldn't enter Vietnam but they had been put on a fast-tracked application so would be able to by 5pm, but that we should leave without them. And so we did, and made the short journey to the border town of Ha Tien when the second bus finally arrived to take us there. And so began our extremely short stay in Vietnam.
The bus driver kindly took us to our next bus departure point for a dollar, saving us having to find a taxi in a new country, and we arrived with over an hour to spare before our 12:30 bus. There was no space on the 11:30 bus to allow us to leave early - we had in fact tried to book the 11:30 bus earlier but were unable to which we assumed was a time thing but may have been because it was full. So we went out to find some of Vietnam's famed incredibly cheap food. To our delight there was another supermarket which took card. J wanted to get some cash out because we had no VND in cash but the supermarket wouldn't do cashback, nowhere else took card, and 3 different shopkeepers when we said we wanted to get some cash or use an ATM pointed back across the massive unwalkable bridge we had just come across in the bus and said the same thing in Vietnamese which was probably "over the bridge". It's a very niche and not overly consequential piece of travel advice but if you're ever in Ha Tien, remember that there are no ATMs on one side of the river.
At 12:30 it was sleeper bus time! I had assumed that J had experience of sleeper buses but apparently they're illegal in Europe so it was a new experience for both of us. Basically it's like being in a normal bus except slightly more comfortable and cooler because you're lying down in a pod. Sleeping is not much easier than being on a normal bus because there's just as much jolting around. But it was fun. Would have been more fun had the WiFi worked icl.
In Ho Chi Minh, we had to drop off a bag of our things at a bag storage place that I had booked so that we didn't have to take everything into Japan (and because I couldn't take all of my meds into Japan). This was a cafe which put our bag very visibly barely behind the counter with some other suitcases. As I write this we're landing in Ho Chi Minh so I'll find out very soon if it's all still there. We got another Grab to the airport, checked in J's bag and got through security in good time. We were then confronted with the reality behind Vietnam's cheap food prices - the whole nation is seemingly subsidised by the food prices at the airport which would give you a heart attack in Switzerland (I exaggerate). Very early on the 15th our plane took off for Osaka (it's okay we were on it). Hopefully I will get a chance today (the 19th) to write the post(s) for Osaka and Kyoto and then I will be partially up to date again. Bye bye.