Let's Get Lost

Woke up early, all excited, as I was heading to Cambodia.  Call time for the pick-up was quarter to 7.  It was already 7 o’clock in the morning and my ride has not yet arrived.  This got me worried, worried that the bus has left without me and I’m stuck in Viet Nam, with nothing to do.  So I kept bugging the guy behind the desk of the tour agency where I booked my tickets.  I should have booked my tickets at Sinh CafĂ© as advised by Dimple; instead I signed up at some random tour operators.  Charged to experience.

A little pass 7, a guy in motorbike arrived asking me to hop in.

  I hesitated as I was expecting some big bus to pick me up and I was also afraid of riding a motorbike.  Then they explained to me that the guy was just going to bring me to the terminal.  I had no choice but to get into the motorbike, so I hold on tight on the guy, not minding his stinky smell.  After five minutes or so of crazy motorbike ride, we were at the terminal.  I was pleased with my seat as I was seated in the front row and I had the entire row all by myself since the bus was not even half full.  Booking at some random tour operator turned out well after all.

We left at around 7:30 A.M., so I was able to witness Saigon’s rush hour and their gazillion motorbikes.

I was about to get some sleep when the bus conductor started handing out baguettes and H20.

  Wow.  Amazing!  Hahaha I really appreciated this as the budget airline from the Philippines that I flew with did not give its passengers even small bottled water while a bus in Saigon gives free meals.

After about three hours, we reached the Viet Nam-Cambodia border, got out of the bus, entered the immigration office and waited for our passports to be stamped; and same thing with the Cambodian immigration.  That was easy, no questions were asked by the immigration officers; the immigration officers did not even look at us!  And while waiting for our passports, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant.  Well, I did not eat lunch actually because their local dishes did not look appealing.  I just had fruits -- strawberries and rambutan ďż˝" lots of them.

When we got our passports back, our journey continued.

  Then, I slept, waking up when we reached Phnom Penh where we had a stopover for lunch, again.  I was hesitant to order, at first, as I don’t have Cambodian currency at that time but the bus conductor told me that it was for free and already included in the bus fare.  Free lunch it is!  At that time, I had the chance to mingle with my fellow travelers, asking them stuffs about Cambodia after finding out that most of them had been there already.  Nonesee, a mom from Indonesia, was kind enough to allow me to join her with her free tuk tuk pickup at the bus station c/o the hotel where she booked; got lucky there because I would no longer look for a hotel and the ride would be free.  :)

About an hour after leaving Phnom Penh, we reached the Neak Loueng Ferry station.

  I wanted to get out of the bus to stretch my looong legs but street vendors and beggars swarmed our bus so I took pictures inside the bus instead.

Then it was our turn to cross the Mekong River, which I did not find appealing.  I slept again the entire afternoon.

It was starting to get dark and yet we were still on the road.  The tour operator told me that it would only take 9 hours to reach Siem Reap and we were like on the road for 10 hours already.

At last, we reached Siem Reap, home of the Angkor Wat.  It was already 7 P.M. and raining!

Glad I met Nonesee because as I got off the bus, I saw a tuk tuk driver holding a placard with Nonesee’s name on it.

  So I joined Nonesee with her three kids to the hotel.  Unfortunately, the hotel where she booked was not exactly what she told me, like free internet access (Yes, they do have wifi but I don’t have a laptop or wifi phone so no use for me), free breakfast, and a room worth USD10, just USD 15 for a standard room.  Worse is, their standard rooms were fully booked and the ONLY room they got was USD20, which was WAY over my budget.  I couldn’t back out as I already availed their tuk tuk service and it was still raining!  But the owner was kind enough to give me a discount for that night.  I got a 5-dollar off for a deluxe room, but I had to transfer the next day to their standard room.

While waiting for the rain to stop, I had dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Afraid of their local dishes (due to what I saw in the Cambodia border bus station), I had pasta & chicken.  Still waiting for the rain to stop, I spent my time at a nearby internet cafĂ©.  Browsing the net made me sleepy so I decided to hit the sack.  Goodnight Siem Reap.  Thanks for the rain.  :(