Busing it - Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The bus route between Phnom Penh has become big business; several bus companies ply the route. One of the original companies is Sapaco Tourist and the is the one I picked again.

I’ve written about Sapaco before, they still have nice buses, some with toilets and a somewhat professional staff. A one way ticket is still $ 10.00 US and I always try to book one way tickets. The price is the same as buying a round trip and buying a one way gives you flexibility to return when ever. Though, in this case they said the return date could be changed, but it is one thing to say and another to do.

To enter Cambodia a visa is required and for $ 24.00 the bus company’s also handle this for you. Really not a bad deal as they fill out the forms and get you your visa at the border for you. However if you’re the hands on type a visa can be got on your own for $ 20.00 but it takes a few days on line through the Cambodia e-visa site. A visa can also be got through travel agents in Saigon but again it takes a few days and probably costs about the same as what the bus company charges.

Sapaco has buses leaving Saigon at 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 11:30 AM and 1:00, 2:00 PM with two stops, one at the border and another for a food break. In Saigon they are located on Pham Ngu Lao adjacent to the backpacker area of district 1, along with the other bus companies working the Cambodia route. Your hotel or guest house can probably handle your bus reservation and set it up so you can be picked up, how ever you book your ticket it's best to book a couple days in advance to can get that primo front seat. Oh ya, the company also tosses in a sandwich and a bottle of water for the 5 hour trek.

My ride over was uneventful, border crossing took about 30 minutes, a short wait for a ferry across river at Neak Loeing and a food break at one of the nameless highways places buses in every third world country stop at. The bus was clean and nice looking but lacked a toilet and had this rolling ride like running in an off shore swell aboard a boat.

Cambodian kids

Family outing - Cambodia style

Bus tire repair, driver and helper

Cambodian police guard market

tut-tut cruises by grand palace

Phnom Penh is an interesting town, crowded, dirty and poor but interesting. Reminding me of some people I've met in my life, I'm drawn to them but I'm not sure why.

For example you will find loads of bars and girls looking for work on street 116, just around the corner from the upscale riverside cafés. On street 116 places with names like the Oasis bar, 69, Candy bar and Banana bar are the norm. If you meet the lady of your dreams and make that cosmic connection or just feel like messing around, pay the $ 5.00 bar fine and she is yours for the evening and another $ 20.00 gets you a sleep over.

Now if you’re the sort that needs a bit of very personal afternoon attention, The Walkabout is your spot, $ 15.00 gets you a new best friend for an hour plus an additional $2.00 for a spot to get personal, overstay your hour and the room went up to $4.00.

US dollars work great in most places even though the KHR (riel) is Cambodia’s official currency 4,100 KHR = 1 US dollar. At our food stop I exchanged some US dollars at the bank across the road but after a couple days ended up trading them back for dollars. It's just easier to use dollars most places.

I booked my hotel room through agoda on line at the Cara hotel, a little bit away from the action, located on No. 18, Street 47& 84, Sangkat Chork, Khanh Doun Penh though has a real classy disco across the street and taxi’s and tuk-tuk's right outside the front door to carry you away. Great place at a good price $35.00 a night, including breakfast. Has a bank of top quality computers for guests to use at no charge. Rooms are large and quite because of the big windows being double glazed , no mildew in the bathrooms and excellent cable TV.

The bus ride back to Saigon took a lot longer than expected. Somewhere out in the Cambodian countryside the bus blew out the tandem back left tires. Sure made a loud boom and the bus was all shaking and making strange noises until the driver got it stopped. Luckily we weren't going very fast; Cambodian roads aren't made for speed anyway. It took the driver and crew a long time to get both those tires off, crank down the spare and mount it.

Then we headed to a tire guy, a shoeless man dressed only in shorts, working out of a dirt floored shed with the help of a sledge hammer and some well placed shims, pulled the tires off the rimes. Inserted new tubes from the spares aboard, remounted the tires and we were rolling again.

One of the real freaky things about Phnom Penh are all the new expensive cars clogging the streets. Can you say Lexus, Mercedes and BMW? It makes a strange contrast with people around so poor they can't afford shoes – what’s up with that? Also loads of new construction going on and I'm thinking who is moving into all those new buildings?

Yup, an interesting place where change is charging in but still with still a bit of the old rough side left to make things interesting .