Two notes I forgot to mention about yesterday:
1. I bought some expensive coffee in HCMC. "Weasel coffee" is about $20 per .33 pounds (the most expensive coffee I have ever bought), but is supposed to be the best coffee in the world. The Vietnamese feed this coffee to creatures which resemble weasels, who then partially digest the coffee beans and poop them out. The partially digested coffee beans are then cleaned and then sold at a premium price. I bought some of this coffee for me and my dad. I hope he likes it. It will be part of his b-day package..
2. Jared went out after I went to sleep to buy ban mi for us for dinner. He was immediatly approached by a 14 year old (or 14 year old looking) prostitue. Apparently the only thing keeping him from being constantly approached is me. Yikes....
The next morning we woke up early, checked out of the Spring House Hotel Saigon and went next door to the french bakery for breakfast. I had another excellent cup of coffee, and Jared and I both got baked good and ban mi for the road. We sat infront of the bus company store by 7:15. The bus was scheduled to arrive at 7:30. It did not arrive until 8:30, and we didn't leave HCMC for Cambodia until 9.
It was 9/2, or Vietnamese Independence Day (1945), but there was no grand celebration in Saigon (obviously, since it is South Vietnam). We boarded the bus and headed for the Cambodian border. Jared was able to place us using his blackberry (he's totally obsessed with it).
I was assured that the bus would have a toilet, and it did not. In fact, every single time I have ridden a bus I have been assured it would have a toilet, and every single time it did not. Oh well. The bus's air-con worked, and it only broke down once (to get its air filter changed), so I don't have much to complain about.
The country side was beautiful.
We reached the Cambodian boarder. The bus attendant demanded $25 and our passports. Now the English girls I met in Hue told me a horrible story about how they tried to take a bus for a border crossing and they refused to pay the $25 bribe to the bus company to cross - but once they refused they were promptly kicked off the bus 2K from the border and told to walk. They said the whole thing was totally scarry, so I had told Jared that no matter how much money the bus company wanted us to pay, we were going to fork it over. They only asked for $25 - and that was to cover the cost of the Cambodia visa - so we didn't even have to bribe them! They were honest, thank god.
We got off the bus and waited in a cue for our names to be called, and for Cambodia to stamp our passports. Very little hassle, but all of our bags were rummaged through (no money or goods were taken, but as my bag is currently being held together with saftey pins, I can tell when someone rummages through my bag).
We had a few more hours before we arrived in Phenom Pen. We stopped at a "truck stop," where the bus drivers ate, and I ordered an ice tea. Vietnamese and Cambodians alike drink this cheap ice tea - I've been drinking it too even though every other Westerner I've talked with refuses to drink the local water. Maybe I have a stronger stomach...who knows (or it just hasn't caught up with me yet. As I write this in Siem Reep, Jared is up in the room with a bad tummy).
We finally arrived in Phenom Pen - some totally sketchy looking bus station. Cambodia looks, smells and feels poorer than Vietname. We drove into Phenom Pen through the "suburbs" which were not much more than shanty towns - shacks with tin roofs, no windows, no locks, and people living on dirt floors and peeing at the side of their houses. Very poor.
I jumped off the bus to run into the bus station to pee. While peeing, Jared arranged a tuk-tuk driver (in Vietnam they seem to call them cyclos, but in Cambodia they are tuk-tuks). I think we over paid for Mr. Ya's services, but he was nice, and seemed to have our best interests at heart.
Now, Jared and I differ on this one but I think we were subject to a common scam. Mr. Ya said he would drive us around to as many hotels as we wanted for $5 until we chose one we liked. The first hotel, for $20, was kind of down market, but I'm sure it was perfectly safe. The second hotel, Billabong, was glorious. A georgeous pool, pool-side bar, and rooms with balconies which overlooked the pool. For $50 a night including breakfast, we choose to stay there. I think Mr. Ya took us to one not so nice hotel first so we would choose the hotel he got a kick back from....either way, it was a nice hotel.
We decided to settle in at the hotel and then use Mr. Ya's services at night to give us a tour of the city.
I am too tired tonight to write about our nice tour, but I will write about it tomorrow. For now, I go to bed in Siem Reap and wake at 5am to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat tomorrow. More then....
