Saigon, Vietnam

I've been here for a couple of days now but don't have much to report. Severe exhaustion struck me again while I was in Phnom Penh. I don't know if it's the dengue fever or heat exhaustion or a combination of both but I felt so tired in PP that I just rested in my hotel and saw almost nothing of the city.

Two days ago, I caught a bus that went through the border from Cambodia to Vietnam. My hotel had arranged a Vietnam visa for me but the formalities at the border took nearly two hours but once in Vietnam it was only a couple of hours to Saigon. My cousin and her family live here and so I'm staying with them and resting up. The first night here, I slept for over twelve hours and still felt tired the next day. Today I can feel I'm getting back to normal so I might try to explore some of Saigon but only very lightly.

I'm going to book a ticket today on the train that runs from Saigon to Hanoi, a train sometimes known as the 'Reunification Express'. It takes 30 hours and I will probably do it in one go leaving tomorrow since I have to hurry to get to Beijing by the beginning of August. Hanoi is a very hot and humid place. Yesterday the temperature was 38 degrees there and sometimes it gets into the 40s. I think I will probably not venture out much and rest up some more in an air-conditioned hotel.

Update: all the trains were booked up for the next four days so I've booked a sleeper on a bus instead. I never knew there were buses with sleepers. Not sure how comfortable it will be, but I guess I can always hop off if its terrible, stay in a hotel, and then get on another bus. Its about the same speed as the train, taking 34 hours from Saigon in the south to Hanoi in the north.