We checkout and catch the 9am bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh. It’s a pretty good bus, but strangely we are two of only four non-Asian Passengers on the full bus. But that’s good, we love watching the local people go about their days and exchanging laughs with them. We get under way and get to the border fairly quickly. There is a bit of confusion at the border crossing but we get to the right desk (as we have e-visas), but we have to leave our passports there whilst we have lunch. Not the best situation, but we get them back afterwords without any problem. It’s a shame Asian travel staff don’t give more information during stages like this, as we and a Japanese guy who also had an e-visa weren’t entirely sure what was going on.
After a nice lunch we get back on the bus and head into Cambodia. The landscape changes also immediately with the character of Cambodia coming through. We pass through many traditional villages and Cambodia’s position as a developing company is obvious. We unexpectedly stop at a ferry terminal. A quick check of the map shows that we are at the Mekong River. It’s a massive span and there is no bridge. A few people come up to the bus to sell their items, including fried bugs.
So the bus practically slides down the mud bank to the ferry. Once across the river the bus makes it up the muddy bank and we get back on the road.
As we get close to Phnom Penh we notice the roads are flooded with the water just sitting on the roads. We’ve seen a lot of heavy rain recently and we hope it gets better when we get to Angkor Wat in a few days.
Once inside the city the rains fall even more heavily. We get to the stopping point and shelter from the rain in the bus companies cafe. Abs checks a room in the bus companies guesthouse but it’s not very good. We decide to get a tuk-tuk to a recommended guesthouse. The pushy tuk-tuk driver actually turns out to be a nice guy and we take a look at the guesthouse we recommends. We try to avoid guesthouses listed in guidebooks as we try to spread our money around.
The guesthouse is good, and the staff are really friendly. There are a lot of people staying at the Okay Guesthouse and we chat to a few. It’s nice to be out of the rain. Cambodian people are proving to be helpful and honest so far, which we didn’t expect.