Before leaving Saigon, we already booked our land transfers to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and then to Bangkok, as we would only be spending at least a day in each of the Cambodian cities. The bus fetched us at the hotel around 8am. We also picked-up some tourists that would be taking the trip with us.
A couple of hours after, we were already at the Vietnam-Cambodia border. So we all went down and went through the immigration building to exit Vietnam, crossed into another building to enter Cambodia. It was a thrilling experience because some bus dispatcher collected our passports, together with all those of other tourists. We really had all our eyes just carefully watching our passports. You wouldn’t wanna lose your passport and get
stranded!
Vietnam border
Cambodia border
Tourists from some developed countries have a different queue from that of tourists from the ASEAN. It was crazy because while waiting for one Caucasian couple, our bus left, with all their things on board! It was lunchtime so maybe that’s why our bus left to go to the eatery just nearby. The couple just caught up with us on a motorcycle, and the woman was just so mad she wouldn’t stop cussing. haha I don’t know if that’s their usual practice in there, but I would’ve lost my mind too if it were I.
On the way to Phnom Penh, our bus got on a barge to cross a very wide river. There were ladies carrying large basins, selling chicken heads, crickets, snakes on sticks, and some worms. In my mind I thought, “I really am now in the exotic Cambodia!”
On the barge
Anyway, we arrived in the bus terminal in Phnom Penh a little past 3pm. There were many tuktuk drivers out there that tried to convince us to get on their vehicle, and also tried to rip us off. But Filipinos as we are, we’re very mindful. We’re also very good hagglers so we got 2 tuktuks for only $10!
Since we were only going to be in Phnom Penh for several hours, we asked the tuktuk driver to just drive us around the city and then drop us off at the bus company lounge by the Riverside. Unfortunately, it was raining so hard so we didn’t get to get off and take some shots of the landmarks.
Independence Monument
Check out the rain.
Riverside. Phnom Penh’s backpacking district.
Just as we had settled our things at the lounge, the rain also stopped. We walked to the Central Market just a few blocks away. We sat by an eatery just on the sidewalk, to eat
dinner.
Central Market
From another angle
We went back to the lounge to shower, and buy our breakfast for the next day, from a KFC store which was also just right beside the lounge.
At 11pm, we arrived at the bus company’s terminal. Then there, was an ordeal we’ll never forget.
Axel Wally | Advancing the Kingdom 