After visiting Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, I took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (the capital city of Cambodia), which took me about 8 hours. One advice: Book an express bus from your hostel/hotel and do not book bus tickets from local travel agencies. The express bus that you book through your hostel would be about $15-$17 USD and the local travel agencies will only charge you $9 USD. There is a reason why it's CHEAP! I booked through the travel agency because it was way cheaper, and I was told it would go directly to Phnom Penh, but that was not true! There were too many stops along the way, and people transported food items to sell in Phnom Penh on the bus so it could smell a bit fishy inside the bus. It seemed like only the locals use this bus, and for a better experience, I recommend booking through your accommodation.
I didn't spend a lot of time in Phnom Penh-- The main reason why I traveled south was to catch another bus from Phom Penh to get to Ho Chi Minh City (aka HCMC) in Vietnam. Immigration was easy and didn't take a whole lot of time. I had to wait 20 minutes or so, but the process was quick! I didn't explore HCMC when I arrived from Phom Penh because I wanted to head straight to Mui Ne, which is about 3 hours from HCMC.
Mui Ne
I didn't know about Mui Ne until my friend recommended a visit. It was only a 3-hour sleeper bus ride from Ho Chi Minh. After researching, I went on a sand dunes jeep group tour for the sunrise (which I booked in person when I got there- I booked through Green Tours), which was amazing. It felt like I was back in Southern Utah to see cool sand dunes and catch the sunrise. Our group went to White Sand Dunes first and did an ATV ride (almost forced to pay for the ATV and paid separately from the tour. Paid 350K dong). Then we went to Red Sand Dunes, less popular than the first one. We took road-tripping photos during the tour, which was cool! I think it was worth the money and our group was amazing so I had a great time!
The white sand dunes were my favorite! It didn't seem like I was in Vietnam
This was the red sand dune! My group members helped me with photos :)
After spending couple of days in Mui Ne, I took another sleeper bus to Da Lat, which was about a 6-hour sleeper bus ride. I heard so many good things about Da Lat, so I was excited to check it out!
Da Lat
I personally really liked Da Lat, since I was able to immerse myself into the daily lives of the local people. I stayed in District 1 in Da Lat, which was a perfect location to head over to the Da Lat Traditional Market. I loved walking around Da Lat market area since they had a beautiful lake nearby and I could see locals' daily lives here.
There is zero touristy vibe here, which I loved. Lived like a local while I was here!
It was a local tofu shop that I found! They had fresh tofu, which they make every morning!
Cheap market prices in Da Lat!
Although I didn't get to explore Ho Chi Minh yet, I had a great time in Southern Vietnam (Mui Ne and Da Lat) and see what Vietnam has to offer. I was visiting during the rainy season, but thankfully it didn't rain that much, so exploring was fun and dry!! I can't wait to explore other places in Vietnam :)
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