Wow, 5 dollars from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap? Why not, right? Wrong. Firstly there were two busses, one was more expensive (8$) and was for the tourists and went directly to your destination while the 5$ bus was the local bus and apparently stopped in every tiny town, random road, and even the middle of no where to pick people up and drop them off. The ride started out okay enough, although we were told we were leaving at 745 and never did pull out of Phnom Penh till closer to nine. The bus then decided the best music to play was some Cambodian style of music videos at the top level of their speakers. Thats when things started to go downhill. I was lucky enough to grab the window seat so I sealed myself off from the rest of the bus and popped my earphones in, crossing my fingers that my ipod wouldn't die by the time we arrived at Siem Reap. The language barrier stopped us from finding out how long the bus would be so we had to sit there and hope every town we pulled into was finally our destination. The roads we were traveling along were terrible. For a accurate comparison, these roads made Saskatchewan roads back home seem like perfectly paved, smooth sailing highways. About a half an hour into the ride Aspen informed the lady next to us was throwing up and needed the plastic bag that was stuffed into the seat in front of me. Perfect. I was just thanking god the bus was AC and hoping no funky smells would waft over to our side of the bus.
We made a stop in a little town for a bathroom break. I went into the bathroom only to discover it was my personal favorite of foreign toilettes. The hole in the ground style. I go into the first stall and shut the door. I look up and sitting in the corner waiting to eat me is a GIANT spider. I got out of that stall pretty quickly and found a new one that didn't have too many critters inside.
Afterwards while we waited for the bus to leave Aspen pointed out the giant basket full of tarantulas to eat. I should have told them about the one in the bathroom, I'm sure they would have caught it and ate that one too. Eventually before we leave Cambodia I'll try to get my courage up enough to try a tarantula (dead and cooked).
Another couple hours into our a bus ride we ended up having some tire troubles so we all got off and walked around in the middle of no where for a bit. There was no wind at all, so it made it very hot and I didn't want to drink any water because I wasn't sure when our next bathroom break would be! I was nearly dying. The AC bus was very nice, even with the pumping Cambodian music and cookie throwing guests.
Finally we made it to Siem Reap! The bus station was mayhem. Every tuk tuk driver was there and trying to offer anyone a ride for cheap cheap, no scam! But we had a driver picking us up already, one we had arranged from our last hotel. We ended up scoring a nice hotel for 4 dollars a night each with wifi and a real shower! A nice little walk away is a market and a street full of great looking restaurants, we just grabbed some street food for a dollar though.
Wake up call is bright and early tomorrow for the Temples of Angkor Wat to catch a sunrise! I'm excited it's going to be a long day but a good one as always!
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