13 hour busride to Phnom Penh
February 28, 2009
I got up pretty early and managed to get myself a coffee and a sandwich just in time. The people in Laos are not that fast, but in the early morning they are even slower than slow ;-)
With a longboat I got back to the pier where a minibus was waiting to take me (and a lot of other people) to the Cambodian border. After a short ride we were dropped at the Laos border control and for a USD 2 fee for "administrative costs" I got stamped out of Laos. I got my bag from the van and had a 800 meter walk into Laos where I got a visa-on-arrival for a mere USD 21 (again USD 1 extra for "overtime"). The last hurdle was the stamp to get into Cambodia that again costs (as you can probably guess) USD 2. I bet those customs have a big party everyday enjoying the dollars they ripp off of tourists.....
On the Cambodian side there was a bus waiting to be filled up with people (untill there was litterally no more room to sit as even the aisle was filled with plastic chairs to sit on). I was joined by Fiona who I had met earlier on Don Det. The bus had no aircon, but luckily the windows could be opened...
The bus stopped at Strung Treng for lunch and then went on to Champan Kong where the people that were going to Phnom Penh had to switch busses into a minivan. The time was now already 19:00. In the minivan the driver thought it would be nice to put on a Cambodian karaoke DVD with the sound blasting from two speakers in the back. One of the others brought a Thai reggae CD that saved us from the horrible sounds that were on the DVD (the CD was not that much better though).
At 21:00 we arrived in Phnom Penh. I found a room for USD 5 per night, did some stuff on the internet and then went to sleep.
With a longboat I got back to the pier where a minibus was waiting to take me (and a lot of other people) to the Cambodian border. After a short ride we were dropped at the Laos border control and for a USD 2 fee for "administrative costs" I got stamped out of Laos. I got my bag from the van and had a 800 meter walk into Laos where I got a visa-on-arrival for a mere USD 21 (again USD 1 extra for "overtime"). The last hurdle was the stamp to get into Cambodia that again costs (as you can probably guess) USD 2. I bet those customs have a big party everyday enjoying the dollars they ripp off of tourists.....
On the Cambodian side there was a bus waiting to be filled up with people (untill there was litterally no more room to sit as even the aisle was filled with plastic chairs to sit on). I was joined by Fiona who I had met earlier on Don Det. The bus had no aircon, but luckily the windows could be opened...
The bus stopped at Strung Treng for lunch and then went on to Champan Kong where the people that were going to Phnom Penh had to switch busses into a minivan. The time was now already 19:00. In the minivan the driver thought it would be nice to put on a Cambodian karaoke DVD with the sound blasting from two speakers in the back. One of the others brought a Thai reggae CD that saved us from the horrible sounds that were on the DVD (the CD was not that much better though).
At 21:00 we arrived in Phnom Penh. I found a room for USD 5 per night, did some stuff on the internet and then went to sleep.
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