After leaving my local friend’s hometown,
I decided to visit Vietnam for a few days.
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- Near the border, we had launch in a local restaurant.
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- This is Cambodian style omelet.
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- The filling was minced pork and sprouts.
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- After the lunch, we headed to the border. This is the immigration office of Cambodia.
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- You can see Cambodian flag on the near side and Vietnamese flag on the far side.
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- That is the immigration office of Vietnam.
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- Actually, there are some duty free shops on the border. So we went there first.
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- This shop seems to be controlled by Vietnam government and have almost every thing.
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- The space is huge and looks like a giant warehouse.
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- They have even a cafe in the shop.
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- Because the custom tax is very high in Cambodia, products from Vietnam are generally expensive in Cambodia.
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- That’s why this kind of duty free shops are popular among part of Cambodian. These are bento boxes.
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- I was impressed with the variety of the items.
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- Then, for some reason (explained below), I went to Vietnam by myself for a moment.
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- Vietnam!
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- Vietnam!
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- Vietnam! …and then my 30 seconds sightseeing of Vietnam finished.
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- After waiting more 30 minutes in the queue at the immigration office, I came back to Phonm Penh crossing the Mekong River again.
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- We ate the quail eggs again in the car.
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- And fried crickets again…I am not surprised anymore!
After shopping in the store,
we were thinking of going to Ho Chi Minh.
However, the immigration staff in Cambodia
pointed out my friend’s passport is expired.
Holy crap!
To make the matter even worse,
I had the stamp on my passport already.
Although I asked him cancel my stamp,
he demanded $5 as the cancellation fee.
As I thought it’s ridiculous,
I decided to go to Vietnam for a moment
and then come back to make everything in order.
After waiting for my turn for about 30 minutes
in the long queue at Vietnamese immigration office,
I enjoyed Vietnam for about 30 seconds.
Probably it would have been better to pay $5
rather than waiting in the long queue for 30 minutes twice
at the hot immigration office.
Anyway, I hope I visit Vietnam again
and stay a bit longer next time.
