Buses Ho CHi Minh to Phnom Penh.

The Sorya Express Bus departing for Phnom Penh at 08:00hrs.Bus fare:USD10.00.

It is advisable to book one day earlier as seats were quickly being snapped up.

There's toilet inside the bus and passengers will be given a small bottle of drinking water.Journey takes about 7 hours.

It was the same bus conductor whom I met from Phnom Penh earlier and he seemed to have a very tight schedule.



 

Phnom Penh to Siem Reap by Sorya bus cost USD15.00(6 hours)
The Open Bus Tour returning to her base at Sinhcafe Travel.
Open Tour is one of the best option for travellers to see a wider section of scenic Vietnam as it is very cheap and economical.
Services to all major town throughout Vietnam runs daily and the itinerary suits everyone timetable.

The best part is that the travel agency has its branches in the following towns:Hanoi- Ninh binh - Vinh - Quang binh - Hue - Danang - Hoi an -Nhatrang - & Dalat for your onward local connections.

In front of Sinhcafe Travel,tourists were seen alighting the buses to their respective tour destinations.
This is the most busiest street in the early morning.

DESTINATIONS LIST & FARES.

*HA NOI – HUE – HOI AN – NHA TRANG – DA LAT – SAI GON: USD 47

*HUE – HOI AN ( 140 km, 04 hours)
 Departure: 8:00AM – Arr: 12:00PM
Departure: 2:00 PM – Arr: 5:00 PM (direct bus) - Lang Co beach - Da Nang - Marble mountain 9 USD

*NHA TRANG – SAI GON
Departure: 7:30 AM – Arr: 5:30PM Departure: 8:30 PM - Arr: 6:00 AM - Ca Na beach - Phan Thiet town - Mui Ne beach 12 USD ( Seating bus )14 USD ( Sleeping bus )

*SAI GON – MOC BAI – PHNOM PENH (direct bus) Departure: 6:45 AM – Arr: 1:30 PM 14 USD

*SAI GON – MOC BAI – PHNOMPENH – SIEMREAP ( change bus in Phnom penh) Departure: 6:45 AM – Arr: 7:00 PM 29 USD

The Mailinh Express Group  also owns the Saigontaxi.

Their local buses covers more of Central and Highland region in Vietnam.

Address:400A Le Hong Phong St., Ward 1, Dist. 10, Ho Chi Minh City 10, Ho Chi Minh City tel: 84 838323888 tel: 84 838323888

Mailinh Open Tour Phnom Penh Office: #391, Sihanouk Blvd., Phnom Penh Phnom Penh Station (Departure/arrival):
Olympic Stadium Tel: +(855) (0)23-211666 Siem Reap Office: Wat Bo area Tel: +(855) (0)63-762888

Saigon Passenger Transportation Company (Sapaco)

Sapaco Tourist Bus Operating Station at 325 Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

Tel: +84 8 39203 623

To Phnom Penh departure

time:6:00AM ,7:00AM,8:00AM,9:00AM,10:00AM,11:30AM,13:00PM,14:00PM
Bus Fare:USD11.00

PHNOM PENH:
309 Preah Sihanouk Blvd, Sangkat Veal Vong, Khan 7 Makara, Phnom Penh
Tel: 023 210 300 - 023 210 324

No 155Be/o, St 182 Sangkat Veal Vong, Khan 7 Makara Phnom Penh Tel: 023 880 978

SIEM REAP: 159 st 7 Svay DangKom, Siem Reap Tel: 012 42 66 88 - 097 97 97 97 456

Sapaco Express Bus No:703 route:-BEN THANH –TAN BINH – MOC BAI
Monday-Friday 36 trips per day from 06:00 - 16:30 hrs.

Saturday & Sunday 44 trips per day from 08:30 -19:30 hrs.

Fare:- 30,000 VND.
Journey time:2hrs 30 minutes.

Well if you plan to visit those casinos near the border this is the ideal bus.
This bus also have services to Siem Reap via a shortcut route. The route crosses the border at Xa Mat in the southern province of Tay Ninh and Trapeang Phlong in Cambodia’s Kampong Cham Province thereby shortening by 50 km.

Around Ben Thanh market

Ben Thanh bus terminal is just across Ben Thanh market,situated at the intersection of Le Loi Avenue, Ham Nghi Avenue, Tran Hung Dao Avenue and Le Lai Street.

 It takes about 10 minutes to walk from Pham Ngu Lao Street. The buses here connects to Cho Lon Station: Bus 1 &56 (if you plan to visit Chinatown) Mien Dong Station: Bus 26 (for travel to Northern parts of Vietnam) and Mien Tay Station: Bus 2 (mostly to the delta region like Chau Doc ferry terminal to Cambodia)

Not far from the bus terminal is the 124th tallest building in the world,with 68 floors above ground and three basements, the building has a height of 262.5 metres (861 ft)--- Bitexco Financial Tower.

 There's a helipad on the 50th floor.(Tháp Tài Chính-- Financial Tower)

An observation deck is also located on the 47th floor, below the helipad. At this height, visitors can see 360° view of the city. Visitors have to buy tickets before they enter this floor.

Each ticket costs 200,000 VND (about 10 USD).

 

Tran Hung Dao Road ends near this small little Central Park which is the city's main intersection with the Tan Hai Long Hotel 1 nearby on Le Lai Street.
 Room rates starts fro USD56.

Ben Thanh market is most noticeable by the clock tower landmark.

Ben means the landing stage while Thanh refers to the old city.
 Hence the name Ben Thanh is being derived.

Hardly can you see any street hawkers  outside the market.
 Ben Thanh is the city's main market. Near the main entrance aisle will be the clothes,fabric and shoes dominating the eye view.
In the middle section is the Vietcoffee, and Vinacafe (Vietnam National Coffee Corporation)stalls displaying their various variety of Robusta and Arabica coffee grown and produced in Vietnam.
 On the eastern side is the food court area while the western corner has the vegetable greens and marine products.
There are security guards at all the entrance.

  Phan Chu Trinh Street is on the right section of the market and most of the city taxis will be around here.

The main entrance faces the Quach Thi Trang Square Roundabout of Le Loi and Tran Hung Dao.

The back portion of the market has many flower shops and the road here is called Le Thanh Ton Street.
 There were many goldsmith shop and restaurants around here.

A shop selling buddhist praying items.

  The cyclo riders. will normally hang around near the wet market areas.

  Durian season in Vietnam.
They call it Sau Rieng (one's own sorrows).
Durian has a very strong and tempting smell to the nostrils.
To some people it smells horrible.But mind you the fruit is very expensive.

  Statue of General Tran Nguyen Han riding a horse just at the roundabout across Ben Thanh market.
A 15th-century warrior served under King Le Loi.

  Benthanh Group(Tong Cong Ty Ben Thanh) established on December 26th 1997.
TRAN HONG TAM -Chairman of Management Board.
 A very diversified conglomerate in the field of trading services,banking financials,Tourism,Postal - Telecommunication,Real-estate and Industrial manufacturing.
The group latest partnership was with Accor,a global hotel management group.




  The Fine Art Museum is just less than a kilometre from General Tran Nguyen Han roundabout,the Saigon Hospital and Samsung Plaza.Ho Chi Minh Museum ,Blue Ginger Restaurant, Miss Saigon Seafood, Saigon Lemongrass Restaurant , Ciao Cafe, Vietnam House Restaurant, Q Bar, Long Phi Bar, Quan Vuon Pho, are also within a kilometre walking radius.

Cholon the Chinatown

Cholon's main traffic circle roundabout was so large and to cross over from one end to another needs a good marathon sprint.

Statue of Phan Dinh Phung,the great Vietnamese revolutionary rebel leader who wanted to oust the French colonial forces stands elegantly near the central entry point.

Born in 1847 and died at a tender age of 48 due to dysentry,he was a prominent Confucian court scholar. Unfortunately Phan's remains were disturbed after his death.

Ngo Dinh Kha, a Catholic mandarin and father of Ngo Dinh Diem—the first President of South Vietnam—was a member of the French colonial administration.
Kha had Phan's tomb exhumed and used the remains in gunpowder used for executing revolutionaries.
 In order to honour Phan,the Marxist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh named their self-produced style of grenades after him.





Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) is a modern skyscrapper overlooking some of the older colonial buildings.
The biggest commercial bank in Vietnam with an operating network of 2,300 branches and transaction offices nationwide.

Agribank signed agreements with Phongsavanh Bank - Laos, Acleda Bank - Cambodia, Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on cross border payment from which customers and all parties benefit.

At the end of 2009, total assets of Agribank reached VND 479,000 billion, an increase of 22% compared with 2008; total funding resources reached VND 434,331 billion, and total outstanding loans to the economy reached VND 354,112 billion, of which outstanding loans to agricultural and rural areas was VND 242,062 billion.

Dai The Gioi Water Parks is just beside a new expressway and nearby is the meandering river.

Busloads of school children have just arrived and the facilities inside looked gorgeous.

The afternoon was very hot and going for a dip in the pool should be wonderful.

The water theme park is a short distance before the Cholon traffic circle and beside the Tau Hu Channel river area in Ben Ham Tu Ward 6,District 5 Ho Chi Minh City.

Entry fees between 25,000 VND - 50,000 VND.

Facilities here includes indoor swimming pool, hydro massage bath has many resources, a wet sauna (separate male and female separately) within the pool area and the slides.

 Along Ben Ham Tu Road,there's nothing much to see and less traffic.

Businesses along this stretch deals with toiletries, bathroom wares and fixtures,renovation and flooring shops,carpentry woodwork and iron grills.

Jollibee-a Philippines fast food restaurant chain giant is at the corner junction along Tran Hung Dao with Nguyen Bieu.

The food at Jollibee is definitely an interesting combination of both American and Filipino food fused together for a unique experience for your taste buds.

Jollibee started in Cubao,Quezon City Philippines by Tony Tan Caktiong,a Filipino Chinese entrepreneur whose ancestors were from the Fujian Province,China.

Chua Long An Buddhist temple is inside this alley.
This entrance is two blocks from the American International School (AIS)[Trường Quốc tế Mỹ AIS],a private, coeducational school that offers an educational program from kindergarten through grad 12.
The address is Nguyen Van Cu Street, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1,off Tran Hung Dao Road.

A statue of a standing Buddha greeting dwellers in this community as one passes the alley.

Buddhist flags were seen hung all around the temple gearing up for the Wesak Day celebration which falls on the 17th May.
Wesak day is "Buddha's Birthday".

A pagoda shrine inside the temple's compound.

In Buddhism, the swastika signifies auspiciousness and good fortune as well as the Buddha's footprints and the Buddha's heart.

The swastika is said to contain the whole mind of the Buddha and can often be found imprinted on the chest, feet or palms of Buddha images.
 It is also the first of the 65 auspicious symbols on the footprint of the Buddha.

 Altar of the past Abbot memorial.

The minority races in Vietnam also have their fair share of religious practise.
The Hindu Temple along Phan Van Tri near to An Binh Hospital.

Hai Nam Temple,a place for the Hainanese chinese along Tran Hung Dao Road.

Benh Vien-An Binh Hospital is a very large medical care centre.