Our Great Adventure: Phnom Penh Day 64 21/11/2014

After commenting on the number of westerners in Vietnam we were the only ones on the bus to Phomn Penh! We had an early start catching the Sapaco bus at 0745 (actually left 0820!) but as the bus station was just around the corner managed to to get some breakfast and got lunch from a decent bakery. The journey through Vietnam was fairly uneventful and after 3 hours we arrived at the Cambodian border (Moc Bai/Bavet). We had already paid extra for our Cambodian visa with the bus conductor ($34 instead of c$25) to help speed up our crossing. However it was chaos at the Vietnamese checkpoint with bus loads of people just waiting for their conductors to get all their passports in front of the border guards noses. Simon couldn't help think we had paid a premium for a much slower service than if we had just done it ourselves. At the Cambodian side it was fairly quick to get our visas mainly as the bus was full of Cambodians so we were only 5 people (inc us) that needed them. After arriving in Cambodia we thought we were settling down for the 2 hours drive to Phnom Penh, only to be told we had a 45 minute lunch break at one of the bus company's restaurants. Once back on the road we initially made good timing, primarily as there must be no speed limit in Cambodia noting the driver was driving really fast compared to the speed he was doing in Vietnam. To be fair he was in the middle of the road following a fleet of around half a dozen cars all with their hazard lights on doing the same. When they pulled in we saw them joined by a picked up of police officers all in combat outfits including balaclavas; we reckoned they must have been escorting an important person (maybe it was the King of Cambodia?). Anyway we soon slowed down due to the amount of traffic on the road and this lesser speed and numerous stops to drop of various items to people on the way (they must act like a delivery service too) and a ferry crossing (although very speedy embarkment and disembarkment) meant we didn't arrive in PP until after 3pm. As we wanted to maximise the last 3 hours of light, on arrival at the bus station we jumped in a tuk tuk to get a lift to our hotel, quickly checked in and then "tuk tuked" to the Royal Palace which was 10 minutes away. We were really glad we did as it was very beautiful, all golden and red and the clear, afternoon sun, really made it look very magical. Afterwards we headed to the riverfront and went to the Foreign Correspondents Club, which was a famous hang out and safety retreat for all the journalists reporting on the Khmer Rouge's madness and had a very welcome beer, watching the sun go down. We then headed off and walked to a restaurant, which was featured in the Lonely Planet guide to have a tasty Cambodian meal sat on the floor, which not surprisingly is a mix of Vietnamese and Thai. We walked the dark but what felt safe streets of PP a short distance to our lovely villa hotel, which looked beautiful with its lit pool, but one we hadn't been able to enjoy due to this been a whistle stop here. The delights and mysteries of Battambang await tomorrow but not until we've had the "pleasure" of a another 6 hour (ish!) bus journey.