Ha Tien Vietnamese border

Instead of taking a taxi we decided to vote for two tuks. 

It took us right through the countryside to the vietnamese border and was really beautiful. 

We passed the children on the way to school and kids out walking animals. We packed all our bags in and whizzed off. 

Whilst it was really warm, the tuk tuk protected you from the sun and the breeze was lovely and cooled you down

We all had a feeling we were leaving something special behind. 

We arrived at the Vietnam border and it was a complete change of scene. We had to park our van and walk across a no man's land for 400metres. I felt quite intimidated because of the officers just looking at us. 

Riona and Mum were looking for something in Riona's bag whilst dad was sorting our passports out and a local came over and was asking for money.

A couple of minutes later some officers started beating him up! I mean, not just a little punch, they kicked him in the spine and threw him to the floor. 

Dad told us that the man was standing next to him at the passport control and the guy saw someone put a couple of passports with money on top across the counter (trying to get his passport looked at quicker.

He tried to steal the money and all the guards became alert and some of them went outside to deal with him and gave the guy the beating of his life. Funnily enough, afterwards, when he was on the floor they went over and lifted his hat and put it on his head as if respecting his dignity!

It took 90 minutes just to walk across the border and have our passports sorted and stamped, even though we had arranged our visas long in advance of that.

Oh, and of course, the customary but more expensive quarantine check where they check your temperature and charge you a dollar each. 

Already we could tell we were in a more western country because of the speed and brashness of some people.