After a leisurely breakfast we set off by taxi to catch our 10.30 bus to Phnom Penh a 6 hour journey. There is no bus station so we were dropped off along a street where the bus ticket office is located. We did know this this in advance so it was not a surprise.
The bus arrived on time, luggage loaded, tickets checked, bus full and off we went.
Negotiated our way out of the city through the normal throng of scooters which eased a little as we got further away.
Traffic and ribbon development all the way to the border where we all got off the bus to go through Vietnamese Immigration. Our passports had already been collected on the bus and all we had to do is collect them again when our names were called out after checking and stamping. On the bus again and drove 100 m to the Cambodian side . Off again and through the happy happy Cambodian Immigration. Showed our passport and visa to and old grump who pencilled something on the visa a waved us to another lady grump 2m away who checked again and stamped the passport. Great on our way, but no, another grump another 2 m away checked it all again before we had the honour of entering the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia
The scenery completely changed to open watery rice paddy fields and buffalo grazing and wallowing in the water. Very beautiful.
Just after entering Cambodia we stopped for 20 min lunch break.
Lunch break cafe!
The afternoon wore on through fields, rivers and canals. We had to cross the mighty Mekong on a floating bridge, quite well organised and very busy. We got on the second one. The remainder of the journey was following the Mekong to Phnom Penh.
Crossing the mighty Mekong
Arrived in Phnom Penh at about 4pm, and picked up by a tuk tuk driver for delivery to our hotel.
Tuk tuk driver and Savages suitcases
In the evening we were picked up by Louise, a friend of Chris and Martins, and taken to a restaurant they frequent, child friendly, expat community. There we met Andrew, husband, and their beautiful Cambodian children and several friends. We had a lovely meal with them. Afterwards Louise took us along the riverside and we decided to make our own way back to the hotel. We were able to pick the brains of some locals, so it was a great evening for us, thank you C and M for the contact. After being dropped on the riverside we managed to find the FCC, (Foreign Correspondents Club) for a drink. Lovely location, will probably manage that again before we leave.
