11 July 07 Bus to Seam Reap, Cambodia from Saigon:
Found my bus in Pham Nu Lao at Spaco Tourist, cost $12.00. Left at 6:30 am for Phnom Penh, nice bus, toilet on board, they served us a sandwich and a bottle of water made one stop other than at the boarder. Vietnam Cambodia crossing was easy, paid the drivers helper $24.00 and gave him my passport, he filled out the paper work for my Cambodia visa and I passed through customs and immigrations for Vietnam than Cambodia with out a hitch. Didn't even have to take my bags off the bus or talk to any government agents.
Arrived in Phnom Penh at 12:10 PM and bought a ticket for the leg to Seim Reap, it left at 1:30PM. cost $6.00. The bus station in Phnom Penh is behind the old market, outside with walk up windows, two rows of concrete bench's under a p/e tarp. A noisy, congested and dirty place.
Seim Reap is a big tourist trap, Ankor Watt is really fascinating but jammed with hawkers and tourists. Bought lunch for me and my motor bike driver, one large bottle of Ankor beer two waters, a sandwich and rice and something for the driver- costed a little over $12.00. I want out, wanted to head on to Bangkok but can't figure out how to do it at a resonal price, bus seems to be too complicated and air is too expensive at $175.00 (US)one way. Thinking of heading back to Saigon on Monday if I can find a way that is economical and comfortable.
I'm staying at a friendly enough place here in Siem Reap, very clean but also very worn. named the Bakong Lodge. It's the kind of place you think to your self "this has a lot of unrealized potential" but mean while it reminds you of a hotel out of a movie set in old Mexico.
Everything is expensive here, not California type expensive but for SE Asia. Though there are a lot of bars for the tourist to toss there dollars and after a few drinks cost isn't all that important. Well. that is until the next day. Funny the Riel is Cambodia's currency but everything is in dollars (4,000 rl = $ 1.00 dollar). One afternoon I gave a beggar a the street some Cambodian money only to have him hand it back and show me a dollar, man they are tough here. Seriously though there are some real sad cases here, poverty is endemic and as always hits the children and physical handicapped the hardest. Speaking of handicapped people, the US probably is some what at fault here. Cambodia has more undetected land mines that just about any other country in the world and we, the US government played a big part in that, either in supplying the mines or having a hand in planting them. Sure don't see any US presence helping to fix the mess the started back in the 1970's but I do see Japan, France, Australia and many others at work here.
To be continued -
Found my bus in Pham Nu Lao at Spaco Tourist, cost $12.00. Left at 6:30 am for Phnom Penh, nice bus, toilet on board, they served us a sandwich and a bottle of water made one stop other than at the boarder. Vietnam Cambodia crossing was easy, paid the drivers helper $24.00 and gave him my passport, he filled out the paper work for my Cambodia visa and I passed through customs and immigrations for Vietnam than Cambodia with out a hitch. Didn't even have to take my bags off the bus or talk to any government agents.
Arrived in Phnom Penh at 12:10 PM and bought a ticket for the leg to Seim Reap, it left at 1:30PM. cost $6.00. The bus station in Phnom Penh is behind the old market, outside with walk up windows, two rows of concrete bench's under a p/e tarp. A noisy, congested and dirty place.
Seim Reap is a big tourist trap, Ankor Watt is really fascinating but jammed with hawkers and tourists. Bought lunch for me and my motor bike driver, one large bottle of Ankor beer two waters, a sandwich and rice and something for the driver- costed a little over $12.00. I want out, wanted to head on to Bangkok but can't figure out how to do it at a resonal price, bus seems to be too complicated and air is too expensive at $175.00 (US)one way. Thinking of heading back to Saigon on Monday if I can find a way that is economical and comfortable.
I'm staying at a friendly enough place here in Siem Reap, very clean but also very worn. named the Bakong Lodge. It's the kind of place you think to your self "this has a lot of unrealized potential" but mean while it reminds you of a hotel out of a movie set in old Mexico.
Everything is expensive here, not California type expensive but for SE Asia. Though there are a lot of bars for the tourist to toss there dollars and after a few drinks cost isn't all that important. Well. that is until the next day. Funny the Riel is Cambodia's currency but everything is in dollars (4,000 rl = $ 1.00 dollar). One afternoon I gave a beggar a the street some Cambodian money only to have him hand it back and show me a dollar, man they are tough here. Seriously though there are some real sad cases here, poverty is endemic and as always hits the children and physical handicapped the hardest. Speaking of handicapped people, the US probably is some what at fault here. Cambodia has more undetected land mines that just about any other country in the world and we, the US government played a big part in that, either in supplying the mines or having a hand in planting them. Sure don't see any US presence helping to fix the mess the started back in the 1970's but I do see Japan, France, Australia and many others at work here.
To be continued -
