Crossing Into Vietnam

Nick rides in the front of the speedboat to Vietnam 

For Vietnam I was in charge.
I was initially the only one who had interest in the country, so Mom and Dad promised that if I planned the trip, booked the hotels and haggled over prices, we could go. Mom helped me out a lot too. She was vital to figuring out visas and a spot on navigator. After a few days in Phnom Penh it was finally time to put another stamp in the passport...

We crossed out of Cambodia via boat. It was a 5 hour ride total, and border crossing was smooth. I think everyone was glad to see a country by water for a change. Over the roar of the ferry engine we could it on the back of the boat and zoom past fishermen and raised houses. Farmers and freighters.

It was dark by the time our boat chugged up to Chau Doc, a city near the border. During the trip we had tried to wrap our heads around the currency conversions. It’s roughly 23,000 Vietnamese Dong to 1 US Dollar. When we were told prices, a 35,000 dong soda or 1,780,000 for a few nights in a hotel for example, we often did a double take. We checked into our hotel and Mom and I put our heads together to plan the days to come.

The flag lined streets of Chau Doc