Another long ride
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Friday, August 8, 2008
Yet another infinite cross-country long haul... today we went from Siem Reap, Cambodia all the way to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. 18 hours on a bus. Let me just say that 18 hours on a bus with a friend is far preferable to 18 hours on a bus with a bunch of people who don't speak English, a la my trip from Bali to Yogyakarta in Indonesia. Thanks yet again, White Devil.
We woke up early early again to take the bus at 6am. Of course they were an hour late. The guy pulls up to the guesthouse and immediately starts telling us to hurry up. Oh, the comedy. I was pretty sure Aaron would punch him. Too bad he didn't, it would have been entertaining. Drove out to the bus station where we got on a pretty ghetto bus with alot of locals to Phnom Penh (the capital). The best part about it was the rest stops that the bus made, where you immediately get mobbed by children trying to sell you things. You want pineapple? Cold drink? A platter of fried spiders or cockroaches? Brother, it's all there waiting for you, at Cambodian bus stop smorgasboards.
Phnom Penh wasn't quite the ghetto hole I was lead to believe it was. I saw all your typical evidence of French colonialism. The wide boulevards, out-of-place architecture, the public squares. Overlayed on it all was the chaos of a totally impoverished mass of people. Wires and cables strung haphazardly and connected with bubble gum and prayer, children running around barefoot, collecting the discarded trash of wealthy white travellers, convenience stands selling a mis-matched poor man's selection of gum, tissues, and cigarettes.
We were only there for a couple of hours. We had to do some serious itinerary cutting because of delays incurred in other countries, and Phnom Penh got the axe, along with Sapa in Northern Vietnam. I am hugely grieved by the loss of Sapa, but something had to go, and I would have been grieved no matter what it was.
After an adequate lunch in Phnom Penh, and an irrationally over-priced Diet Coke (no idea why, but they're like $2 in Cambodia), it was back on the bus to 'Nam. The bus had to go on a ferry over the Mekong, which freaked me out. I don't mind boats one bit, because I know that if anything goes wrong I can take care of myself and hopefully a few others. Yes, I am infinitely vain about my aquatic capabilities. However, if I'm trapped on some bus sinking in the Mekong, it'd be lights out for Tara. So to prevent hyperventalating I took the ride on the deck. And no boats sank, no buses turned into coffins, and nobody hyperventalated.
The border crossing was around two thousand times easier than Poipet. It was wierd because the bus driver had everybody's passports, a huge stack of like 60. It's wierd surrendering the most important physical thing you own. No one wants to get stranded in Cambodia, after all. But it was systematic, stamp stamp stamp, on you go to Vietnam.
As soon as we crossed the border there was an immediate and noticeable increase in population density. This country is packed. Even though Ho Chi Minh is 2 hours from the border, its long arm reaches pretty much all the way to Cambodia. We saw 3 horrific motorcycle accidents on the way in. I'm a girl who believes in omens, and that was enough to convince me that I wouldn't be renting any motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh. We got in around 10pm. There was a strange British guy who latched onto us for awhile there. He looked pretty wild-eyed and fresh, totally terrified and inexperienced, and somehow had landed himself in Ho Chi Minh. Saigon is not exactly a gentle city for the virgin traveller. I wanted to ditch him pretty quick; I learned to travel independently in a self-sufficient fashion and trial-by-fire is the way to go, rather than being babysat. Goodbye, newbie.
Has travelling made me harsh? Has it made me demanding? Has it made me more prone to drinking endless fruity-rummy cocktails? Yes, yes, and yes. Plus, we're coming up on Week Four of Tara's Summer Odyssey here, and I'm getting very accustomed to everyone I meet being after my money. No rose-hued glasses here, sorry Asia! I hope I'm finally seeing it all for what it is. Who knows though, maybe I'm the newbie.
But in the end life is good, and here we are in Ho Chi Minh, my second favorite city in my second favorite country in the whole wide world.
It's going to be a good couple of days :).
