Hello Cambodia we are pleased to have made it!
What a day......we started the day at 8 waiting for a boat to take us to our bus.......as with everything in Laos it happens when it happens. Got on the boat about 0830 after much to-ing and throwing, stopped to pick up another couple on the way and headed back to the main land for our bus. We were told to follow the road, 'bus down there' (helpful!) So made our way back to the bus park where we had been dropped off at only to be told to go back the way we came 'bus on left' (equally useful) eventually found it showed our scrap of paper & we're given 2 bus tickets. Then we waited.......and waited, we were given visa forms for Cambodia & told to fill out & give him $40 and our passports so they could get our Vista's for us.....hmmmm yeah right, didn't want to let our passports out of our sight so declined & said we would do it ourselves at the border (not sure it went down too well).
Bus eventually turned up at 1030..... and everyone piled on, after several ticket checks much confusion and more ticket checks we set off. It was a bumpy and dusty ride, with roads still being laid in some places. We got through the border & managed to get our visas fairly easily ourselves without any demands for bribes - Amazing! Then back on the bumpy road....this time more confusion & those heading for siem reap were told the 'new' road was closed and they had to stay in the bus for a much longer detour that would mean them arriving in the early hours of the morning.....not happy customers and sad to say this happens a lot with people being told they will be using the new fast road then oh no sorry you have a 14 hour journey ahead of you. We happily arrived in Kratie after only 5 hours on the bus, still nearly 3 hours later than the promised time! Oh well we made it to Cambodia, our guesthouse is a dump but can't complain for $6 a night, let's hope the bed bugs don't bite! Off to Sen monorom first thing in the morning then on to the elephant valley sanctuary 😊😊.
