I am going to have to copy from our travel companion Nick for a bit. He
described our trip from Ho Chi Minh into Phnom Penh so eloquently.... and I am
sure he won't mind after that ego boost.
"We took a very long bus ride to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
There was one Brit, two South Africans and around 100 sheets of polystyrene,
packed tightly into the back of the bus. The roads were so bumpy, the Brit and
two South Africans groaned and rubbed bruises, the polystyrene groaned too, as
the sheets slid over one another. The border formalities were very quick, which
was surprising, because if I saw a coach with 100 sheets of polystyrene wedged
at the back, I would call that coach for a full inspection and give everyone on
board a thorough looking over. Luckily, one Brit, two South Africans and 100
sheets of polystyrene all made it to Phnom Penh in one piece."
Thanks Nick
I am going to add that the road was horribly rough and bumpy. I suffer
from motion sickness so on top of being very tired after Monika's farewell
party, I felt horribly nauseous. I was very pleased to get off the bus. The
country side was lovely and in some respects reminded me of South Africa...
complete with mini bus taxis.
The Cambodian border had one of the prettiest border buildings that I have
seen.
We hadn't orgnanised accomodation and thought that we would be able to
organise once we arrived... in the dark. Needless to day, even we were
surprised at the touts jumping at the bus windows before the bus had even
stopped. Ignoring the tuk tuk drivers offering us a 2 dollar ride, we took the
option of a free transfer from a travel agency to Okay Guest House.... and it
was okay - well once we had our own room anyway.
First night we were in a dorm room, and the shower or toilet was either in
the main building (requiring a walk down the road in pyjamas - (the tuk tuk
drivers laughed at my sheep shirt) or around the house we were staying in.
However, this required a walk through the garage, then through the laundry and
then past rows of sleeping men. My first experience was seeing a man in the
bathroom who had neglected to close the bathroom door.... he was kind enough to
call me back to use the skanky bathroom once he was done though, I chose to hot
foot it back to the main building.
We moved to a private room the next morning. After breakfast, we headed to
explore the city. First stop was Wat Phnom. It was our first Wat and I enjoyed
it. More entertaining was the monkeys that walked around like they owned the
place. You can pay to feed them - I have a healthy respect for unpredictable
monkeys so gave them a wide berth. I also declined paying to set birds free
from a cage - they have been trained to come back.
We then wandered towards a market where I went a bit mad buying some really
lovely silver bracelets. It was fun to shop again. Lauren and I also bought
some one size fits all pants.... Lauren has already thrown hers away, I am
keeping mine for amusement purposes.
The afternoon was spent at the Presidential Palace. Really beautiful, but
I will remember it more for the very friendly monks who kept wanting to talk to
me..... to practice their english.
Lauren and Nick headed back to the guest house and I took a walk in the
nearby park. I found a really lovely temple/wat nearby but what fascinated me
the most was the shrine near a workers camp in a very large tree in the middle
of the park - with a Buddha statue and very large orange ribbon tied around the
tree. It was a very pretty park, complete with fountains, memorial statues, pad
paving, plenty of cambodian children playing games and adults just sitting and
enjoying themselves.
Next morning was another 4 am start to get ready for our 6am transfer to
the boat for a ferry to Siam Reap.
