Phnom Penh

From Ho Chi Minh city we took a public bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's captial. The term public bus is rather misleading because it was actually really nice. When we got on, the "host" served us bottled water and then promptly began the paper work to help everyone on board get their visas sorted for Cambodia, he then served us a light breakfast. The entertainment on board was dreadful Vietnamese Karoke videos, which I drowned with my iPOD thank goodness. Once we arrived at the border we had to take eveything off the bus and then go wait inside the border office building for our names to be called by the border police. It took what seemed like forever, thanks to a lack of order, our heavy bags, and also the tendency of the Vietnamese to push/shove to get where they want to go. The no smoking signs were also ignored, which was rather annoying. Finally we all got back on the bus, where we drove to the Cambodian border, about 500 meters away. We had to get off again, this time we could leave our bags, and then we had to hand our passports over to their officials. We then got back on the bus, and were taken to a restaurant for an early lunch, while the officials stamped our passports (kick-backs much?). The restaurant food was alright, we sat on small plastic chairs, and the area was not clean at all, but at this point in the trip, I barely noticed. It was really hot, but since bathrooms were hard to come by, most of us were suffering from forced dehydration, which made our moods less than chipper when we arrived at our destination.

Our ride through the Cambodian countryside was beautiful, and I got some great pictures from the bus. Arriving in the capital city was a little shocking, although we had been warned about the conditions, there's only so much that words can do to prepare you for the throngs of street kids and other street hawkers, including many limbless ones, and the really dirty street and living conditions. Our hotel was a block away from the riverside, so it was a great location. That night we went to a restaurant run by former street kids and had some amazing food. My new favorite dish, thanks to the introduction from this restaurant = Fish Amok. After dinner some of us went to the Foreign Correspondents Club to check out the award winning photos on display, and also to have a classy drink at a Western hang out (well it was when there were lots of journalists in Cambodia).