Day 74

I left my room early on and bumped into Arjen who was also moving on. He was off to Bangkok and was talking to an English guy who couldn't tell the difference between "haggle" and "barter". I quote: "I can't be bothered with bartering today as I have diarrhoea". I couldn't help imagining him later on in a Bangkok pharmacy: "I'll give you 16 paracetamol and a packet of tunes for that pack of immodium".

1 Our island and the boat landing I was waiting at

And so began a day's travel by bus. I'd bought my ticket from a nearby agency as I didn't want to give the annoying old woman at hotel reception my business. There seems to be a little price fixing going on on this Island with nearly every guesthouse offering $26 for a bus to Phnom Penh. It's clearly all the same company with the guesthouses gunning for the commission. I had taken a dislike to our old lady host because she lords it up over everyone there - sitting in the same seat day in day out. She was just a money grabbing miserable old git. The following are the reasons I didn't let her have my bus ticket business:

Reason 1: I'd ordered two beers and received three all with tops off. No problem I thought and told her - "I only ordered two but if you keep that one in the fridge I'll probably have it later". So what does she do - she tried charging for all three!

Reason 2: She'll take payment in dollars at the rate 9000 kip, but she'll take back 10000 kip in lieu of 1 dollar (she quoted room rates in dollars).

Reason 3: When we arrived she didn't let us know about the cheaper rooms but asked which out of the 10 or 12 dollars rooms we were interested in.

Reason 4: Talking with her mouth full (getting picky now)

Reason 5: Children working as 6am gardeners. (not so picky, can't believe I stayed there two nights on reflection)

I boarded a tiny motor boat to get off the Island and was soon in a bus to the border. The road was good but the driver took a right hand turn down a bumpy old lane. That didn't feel right, we're going to an international border crossing along after turning off the main road to a muddy track! A few nervous glances were shared around the bus and I said "I want my Lao immigration departure stamp! I might want to come back here one day!" Another Dutch girl replied "Yep and I don't fancy leaving Cambodia without having received and entry stamp or visa!" As it happens the 30 minutes down the bumpy road was correct and before long we were getting stamps right left and centre and handing over dollar tips to officials in order to get them. I needed a Cambodia visa too and paid $20+$1 tip for it on arrival - lots of the passengers already had them and were cursing that they'd paid over the odds in Vientiane.

An hour or so passed before we left the two border stations - and minibuses continued to Stung Treng - the first big town in Cambodia. Driving along it all felt a lot like Laos, no real differences to behold. At Stung Treng we got out of the minibus and went across the Mekong once more to the other side where a luxury bus was waiting about 400 metres down the road. We ate lunch at the restaurant that the luxury bus was conveniently parked next to (I don't mind tour companies getting little commissions along the way but it's good to be aware when it's happening) and boarded. The bus wasn't luxurious at all and my seat rocked from side to side as the bus did. I quickly swapped to the other side but had to make do with no curtain on the side with the sun. 3 hours later and we were in Kratie. There we were transferred again into a decrepit old van whose seats and been taken out to be replaced by ill-fitting ones! I spied the seats in the back had greater leg room so while the other passengers were lamenting about the state of the van I boarded and got my seat. Kratie to Kompong Cham was horrible. We were fifteen people in a bus with no spare seats left. We stopped after 40 mins and the three staff jumped out - one literally through the back window - and went into a house. Moments later they emerged with big pieces of hardwood and started loading the van up! This was a joke, they even used up the floor space so our feet had to be 6 inches higher up for the rest of the journey. One French woman was giving her boyfriend grief about it and he had to come round the back to make sure their bags were untouched. That journey continued to Kompong Cham and arrived around 9pm. Two English guys asked if I would give up my plans to go to Phnom Penh and stay there tonight as they were doing. "Not a chance" I thought - "I'm going all the way in this crappy bus". I was joined by the Dutch girl and her boyfriend plus an Isreali looking guy. The bus company people had wrongly assumed we'd all give up and stay in Kompng Cham and tried said they wouldn't take us the remainder of the way if there was only "four of us"! I'd had to explain to the guy that, despite not coming, the other six people had still paid for their tickets to Phnom Penh so our number now was irrelevant! At 11pm we rolled into Phnom Penh - a relief I thought until we were mobbed by touts even at this time of night. We shook them off eventually and were walking down a main road. It was closing in on midnight as I spied a hotel showing some live premiership football. "Great" I thought "Man U v Chelsea in their 3pm Sunday fixture - must find a hotel soon and come back". The Dutch couple resolved to find a place nearer the river so I stayed the night at a Chinese joint for $5. I had since spotted a better tv screen in a sports bar. I got in there and bought a lager in front of the tv. After ordering the beer the commentary stopped and a horrible sounding song came on really loudly! It was a sports bar in that it showed sports on big screens but it's main purpose was a karaoke bar! I had to sit for the whole game listening to drunk Chinese men and women singing along to songs I'd never heard before nor wanted again. Still it was nice to get a football fix and I went to bed almost contented after a pretty tough day travelling.