7th Dec - Journey to An Giang Province

I came to Vietnam on the 7th of December,2005. After arriving at the Ho Chi Minh (also known as Saigon) airport at 5.00pm, we took the 7pm bus to An Giang (pronounced 'An' as in 'un' in the 'bun', Giang=Ziang) province. The bus we took looked very much like a van. It could accomodate about 14 people. 2 in front , beside the driver, and the rest behind.

This bus is more expensive than the normal express bus. However,the rate is still cheaper than M'sia's.

The first thing I noticed in Vietnam was that the roads were designed for left hand drive. It took quite some time for me to get used to it. The road was also flooded with motorcycles. There are some sources that state that the population in Ho Chi Minh city alone is more than the population in the whole of Malaysia. Woah! So you can imagine the number of motorbikes on the road! It is definitely more than the bicycles in China!

Malaysian roads are relatively quiet compared to the roads in Vietnam. Drivers here love to use the horn. Thus, roads here are very noisy. People horn when they want to turn, when they meet slower vehicles, when they meet padestrians. All drivers want other vehicles to make way for them. So, the horn is used throughout the journey. Fortunately, the horn here is quite musical! It has many interesting sounds! Unlike the horn in M'sia's vehicles which produces only one musical note.

People here are also very patriotic. The flag of Vietnam is hung on almost all the shops in the city throughout the year, not only on Independence day. Along with the Vietnam Flag, the communist flag is also hung on the electricity and telephone poles by the roadside.

After about 3 hrs of sittin in the bus, we finally stopped to have dinner. I was introduced to the bitter gourd soup, in which there were fish , meat, mushroom and fungus stuffings in it. Barbequed pork was also served with rice. The best thing was, the whole meal cost only RM3.00! Woah! Real cheap!

As we ventured further and further from the city, rivers, wooden houses, and bridges began to emerge. The water level of the rivers here are really high. I was told that during monsoon seasons, the rivers would flood the whole region. and residents would have to shift to other higher areas. Most would have to rebuild their houses when the water subsides.

Finally , at exactly 12.a.m., we reached Nhung's house! Yeah!!!!!