The speed boat from Koh Maak was much better as we managed to get a seat at the back this time. You can't feel the bow of the boat bouncing off the waves so much. It was actually quite nice.
We had arranged the complete journey with a travel agency so we felt we had nothing to worry about. It was up to others to make sure we made our connections. At Kaittipol Tours on Trat mainland we hung around for about 20mins in the suffocating heat (I was forced to buy a watermelon smoothy) and the mini bus arrived to collect us.
We were adorned with smiley face stickers and climbed aboard with the other travelers. After about an hour on the road we reached the border with Cambodia. We were asked to leave the bus. Having done this before crossing into Laos, James and I shot off to the immigration window, where we were stamped out of the country. We shouldn't have assumed (but we did anyway) that the minibus would trundle across the border with our bags and meet us on the other side. We watched helplessly as some of the other travelers unloaded their bags and carried them through with them.
If I have learned anything from this trip it is, wait and see. There's a lot to be said for waiting and seeing. We did not panic and peered across to Thailand at our bags on the dusty ground. Just then a young chap was began loading the larger bags into a big trolley, including ours, he was bringing them all the way into Cambodia - all 20 foot of the journey.
Once we were reunited with our baggage we didn't let it out of our sight again. Bustling men took it upon themselves to fill in any paperwork for us and take us through the whole process. It was a whirlwind of activity. We were provided with bottles of water and we proceeded to be separated from our money in a variety of ways: the quarantine check and scan (A laser gun held to our heads - I squeezed my eyes shut waiting for something to happen - but nothing. The 'doctor' told me with a broad smile that I was very healthy.); the kid with the bag trolley wanted paying for bringing our luggage all the way from Thailand; the cost of the Visa itself, and finally money for helping us fill in the extensive paperwork and getting us through to the officials.
Some people were visibly irked by paying for serviced they hadn't expected, asked for, or factored in. A bit over the top we thought. Visas aside (which were about 20 quid each, and cheaper than the guidebook said) it all came to about 2 pounds each. It's nothing to us, but is comparatively a lot of money for them. Cambodia is poorer than Thailand.
We think people took issue with the fact that they thought people were being friendly and weren't told they were going to have to pay. People just work differently over here. It's not right and it's not wrong. It's just the way it is. I'd rather give money to someone providing a 'legitimate' service than someone just begging - which happens all the time here.
We were ushered to a taxi with 2 other younger travelers and transferred to Koh Kong where our coach was to pick us up and take us the rest of the way to Phnom Penh. This taxi driver guy devoid of a sense of humour, informed us we'd have to give him Rial (Cambodian currency) for the toll road. We obviously didn't have any yet, which everybody knows, so he graciously offered to pay the toll and we would all pay him back once he'd dropped us at the money exchange of his choice. Needless to say the exchange rate was not good but suspecting this already we only changed a small amount. It was probably the taxi drivers mum running the place.
We waited at the Apex hotel in Koh Kong where we had a less than average lunch of noodles. Just wasn't very fresh. Mouldy bits of cabbage. At about 13:30 we boarded a rather salubrious Mercedes people carrier. For once James and I were first on (never happens - always last) and we bagged the seats directly behind the driver, with all the leg room. Get in!!!!
The journey was easy. The roads were better than expected and we had good suspension in our posh minivan. Apart from our terror that our driver liked overtaking so much we felt we were mostly on the other side of the road facing oncoming traffic. I had to not look in the end. We had one stop at a roadside restaurant and reached Phnom Penh just after dark (what a surprise!). About an hour away from the city I began to feel not great. I didn't think I got travel sick anymore so I couldn't work out why I felt so nauseous.
Cambodia is the only place we didn't have a guidebook for in advance. We had booked good accommodation via Hostelbookers so we knew we were staying somewhere nice, but now we had to get there, and we didn't have a map to show our tuk tuk driver. The guy who stopped for us looked about 17 and his crash helmet swallowed up most of his face. He didn't look certain when we gave him verbal instructions but he set off with gusto anyway. We had previously agreed on a price so we weren't unduly worried, except I was about to upchuck in the back of the tuk tuk if we didn't get there soon.
We didn’t get there soon. Our driver stopped to ask 4 other tuk tuk drivers where the Spring Guest House was, and each time his colleagues would point back down Monivong Blvd, from where we had just come. We must have doubled back on ourselves at least 3 times. He was a determined chap though. There were a couple of hairy moments, Phnom Penh, being the capital city, is hectic (an understatement) at any time. We were traveling in rush hour. Once he saw fit to pull across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic and another time we were clearly going the wrong way down a dual carriageway. At the time I thought we might be going to die, but we have since realised that vehicles don’t stop, they just slow down and swerve around. It’s actually much safer. Given the amount of traffic on the roads we haven’t seen a single accident.
Finally we reached the Spring Guest House and James gave him a tip of 1000 Rial (15p) for his valiant efforts. I legged to reception and started the process of checking in. Thankfully this didn’t take long and as soon as we have been shown to our room I locked myself in the bathroom. It was definitely the horrible noodles from earlier.
The thing a body must realize about Phnom Penh is the pavements are not for pedestrians, they are for parking your SUV on. Pedestrians must share the congested roads with mopeds, tuk tuks, cars and lorries in their constant state of near miss. There are such obvious extremes of wealth and poverty, as we haven’t witnessed until now. It isn’t uncommon to see men with limbs missing who have probably been the victims of land mine explosions. Land mines are still undetonated all over the country side. Tourists are urged to stick to marked paths if they fancy a trek.
Having said all this we really liked Phnom Penh. After our auspicious arrival in the capital city things much improved. We went to the waterfront, and shared an ice cream at the Garden Bar In The Shade. It all felt rather European (French influence again). We bought a Lonely Planet copy book off a 10yr old girl called Monica, who had a selection of books in a basket and was really cute and chatty. She asked us where we were from and when we told her said in her best English, “Lovely Jubbly!” Del Boy has a lot to answer for. She also insisted on asking us our ages, and in return told us her mum’s.
There are lots of restaurants around that employ people from underprivileged backgrounds, or donate money to causes such as HIV/AIDS, prostitution prevention, education programs etc. They are usually lovely new air-conditioned places with great food and you get a clear conscience when you spend your money there.
We spent 3 days in the capital city, and after a 6 hour coach trip yesterday, arrived in Siem Reap. We haven’t been outside the The Kool Hotel confines yet. It has a pool, air con in the beautiful rooms and free internet (could you guess??). We’re venturing out this evening into town for tea.
I have prattled on for far too long. Until next time…
M&J
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