Trip Report: Day 4 Saigon - Phnom Penh
Guide: How many motorcycles do you think there are in Saigon?
Tourist: Too many.
Guide: ......
This was an interesting conversation that I overheard between a tour guide and a Western tourist. We would be bidding the land of motorcycles goodbye and leaving on the 7am bus for Cambodia. The ticket cost 12 usd and it would be a direct bus all the way to Phnom Penh. Each passenger were also given a Vietnamese sandwich after boarding.
The air-con of the bus was quite strong but the seat's width was a little too narrow for me. There were Vietnamese MVs playing on the TV and the singer's dressing was really damn hot. Most of the other passengers seemed to be Vietnamese going on a package tour to Phnom Penh.
The bus had to travel slowly on the Vietnamese side because of the number of motorcycles along the way. We had to disembark the bus at the Vietnamese immigration. The bus attendant had collected our passports to be stamped out of the country. The immigration officials didn't mind not seeing us in person.
The three of us were the last ones from the bus to get back our passports. After a short ride across the no man's land, we had to disembark again at the Cambodian side. The Cambodian official would shout out our names; he would take a look at us and we were allowed to board the bus. At both sides, the bus attendants had to unload all our bags and put them through the X-ray machine before loading back into the trunk again. The service wasn't bad for the 12 usd.
The bus drove us to a restaurant where we stayed for about 20 minutes. Only when we left the place did we realize the reason why we stopped there. The bus attendant had stayed back and waited for the Cambodian immigration to clear our passports. We didn't even need to fill in any arrival card whatsoever. This got to be the most bizarre border crossing that I ever attempted.
The Cambodian immigration complex looked pretty impressive because of its mock Angkor architecture. However after passing through the several casinos located immediately after the border, the gap between Vietnam and Cambodia became apparent. There were less motorcycles; the people on this side seemed to be wear dirtier clothes and some even went around without shoes.
Because of the light traffic, the bus was able to go faster for the first part of the journey in Cambodia. The scenery outside was stunning; regardless of the direction that you were looking at, the land was flat. There was not a single hill in sight and the rice fields never seemed to end.
The bus had to stop at this place called Neak Luong because it had to take a ferry across the mighty Mekong. I read that the Cambodian leader Hun Sen made a personal trip to Japan recently to appeal for money to build a bridge at that place. Of course some parties stand to gain more from the bridge than the others but I don't really want to go into that. Within a few years' time most probably there won't be a need for the ferry.
We went to take a leak while waiting for the ferry and were immediately surrounded by beggars and vendors. This reminded me of my trip to India in 2005 where vendors in Agra swarmed any tourists in sight. However how could we blame them? They were also trying to eke out a living.
The roads got worse after Neak Luong; there were sections which were really bumpy and uncomfortable. After many "are-we-there-yet"s, the bus finally rolled into Phnom Penh at about 2.30pm. First impression of the city was not good. It looked dirty and messy. The uncomfortable bus ride did not help either. We dropped off before the main bus station and walked to our guesthouse amid all the tuk-tuk drivers asking "tuk-tuk, sir?"
After resting a while, we decided to go about doing our administrative stuff. We needed to exchange some local currency as well as book our onward ticket to Siem Reap. After checking with the receptionist how to go about them, we stepped out of the guesthouse into a sea of tuk-tuk drivers.
"3pm best time to go Killing Fields... My country only has Killing Fields... All the tourists go see...." The tuk-tuk driver gave us his sale pitch. After the tiring bus ride, we were in no physical condition to go. We declined his offer but he wanted our business. Quoted us 6 usd per person for the entire day the next day but we managed to bargain down to 12 usd for all of us. We told him to wait for us outside the guesthouse at 8am.
Capitol Guesthouse down the road was where we changed money and booked our bus tickets. On hindsight there wasn't a need to change dollar into riels, the Cambodian currency. Everything there is quoted in USDs; change that is less than a dollar would be given back in riels. Our onward ticket was only 4 usd and the bus station was within walking distance from our guesthouse.
First meal at Phnom Penh was at a Chinese restaurant on the main street near our guesthouse. It wasn't really fantastic but one of the waitress there is from China and could speak Mandarin. There was another waitress who is a Phnom Penh native and can speak Cantonese.
After the late lunch we walked towards the riverside. We walked up and down the riverside for at least 3 times, taking note of the different restaurants and watching people kicking cap-teh. Some of them were really good; they could execute a nice kick at the cap-teh without even looking at it.
It started to get dark and we decided to grab some dinner at one of the random restaurant along the river. We decided to heed Ken's advice and head back to our guesthouse early. Phnom Penh has a reputation of being a cowboy town and guns aren't uncommon. It was advisable to stay indoors after 9pm.
It happened that Star Sports was showing Japan playing Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup semi-final. That was to be our night entertainment in Phnom Penh.
The air-con of the bus was quite strong but the seat's width was a little too narrow for me. There were Vietnamese MVs playing on the TV and the singer's dressing was really damn hot. Most of the other passengers seemed to be Vietnamese going on a package tour to Phnom Penh.
The bus had to travel slowly on the Vietnamese side because of the number of motorcycles along the way. We had to disembark the bus at the Vietnamese immigration. The bus attendant had collected our passports to be stamped out of the country. The immigration officials didn't mind not seeing us in person.
The three of us were the last ones from the bus to get back our passports. After a short ride across the no man's land, we had to disembark again at the Cambodian side. The Cambodian official would shout out our names; he would take a look at us and we were allowed to board the bus. At both sides, the bus attendants had to unload all our bags and put them through the X-ray machine before loading back into the trunk again. The service wasn't bad for the 12 usd.
The bus drove us to a restaurant where we stayed for about 20 minutes. Only when we left the place did we realize the reason why we stopped there. The bus attendant had stayed back and waited for the Cambodian immigration to clear our passports. We didn't even need to fill in any arrival card whatsoever. This got to be the most bizarre border crossing that I ever attempted.
The Cambodian immigration complex looked pretty impressive because of its mock Angkor architecture. However after passing through the several casinos located immediately after the border, the gap between Vietnam and Cambodia became apparent. There were less motorcycles; the people on this side seemed to be wear dirtier clothes and some even went around without shoes.
Because of the light traffic, the bus was able to go faster for the first part of the journey in Cambodia. The scenery outside was stunning; regardless of the direction that you were looking at, the land was flat. There was not a single hill in sight and the rice fields never seemed to end.
The bus had to stop at this place called Neak Luong because it had to take a ferry across the mighty Mekong. I read that the Cambodian leader Hun Sen made a personal trip to Japan recently to appeal for money to build a bridge at that place. Of course some parties stand to gain more from the bridge than the others but I don't really want to go into that. Within a few years' time most probably there won't be a need for the ferry.
We went to take a leak while waiting for the ferry and were immediately surrounded by beggars and vendors. This reminded me of my trip to India in 2005 where vendors in Agra swarmed any tourists in sight. However how could we blame them? They were also trying to eke out a living.
The roads got worse after Neak Luong; there were sections which were really bumpy and uncomfortable. After many "are-we-there-yet"s, the bus finally rolled into Phnom Penh at about 2.30pm. First impression of the city was not good. It looked dirty and messy. The uncomfortable bus ride did not help either. We dropped off before the main bus station and walked to our guesthouse amid all the tuk-tuk drivers asking "tuk-tuk, sir?"
After resting a while, we decided to go about doing our administrative stuff. We needed to exchange some local currency as well as book our onward ticket to Siem Reap. After checking with the receptionist how to go about them, we stepped out of the guesthouse into a sea of tuk-tuk drivers.
"3pm best time to go Killing Fields... My country only has Killing Fields... All the tourists go see...." The tuk-tuk driver gave us his sale pitch. After the tiring bus ride, we were in no physical condition to go. We declined his offer but he wanted our business. Quoted us 6 usd per person for the entire day the next day but we managed to bargain down to 12 usd for all of us. We told him to wait for us outside the guesthouse at 8am.
Capitol Guesthouse down the road was where we changed money and booked our bus tickets. On hindsight there wasn't a need to change dollar into riels, the Cambodian currency. Everything there is quoted in USDs; change that is less than a dollar would be given back in riels. Our onward ticket was only 4 usd and the bus station was within walking distance from our guesthouse.
First meal at Phnom Penh was at a Chinese restaurant on the main street near our guesthouse. It wasn't really fantastic but one of the waitress there is from China and could speak Mandarin. There was another waitress who is a Phnom Penh native and can speak Cantonese.
After the late lunch we walked towards the riverside. We walked up and down the riverside for at least 3 times, taking note of the different restaurants and watching people kicking cap-teh. Some of them were really good; they could execute a nice kick at the cap-teh without even looking at it.
It started to get dark and we decided to grab some dinner at one of the random restaurant along the river. We decided to heed Ken's advice and head back to our guesthouse early. Phnom Penh has a reputation of being a cowboy town and guns aren't uncommon. It was advisable to stay indoors after 9pm.
It happened that Star Sports was showing Japan playing Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup semi-final. That was to be our night entertainment in Phnom Penh.
posted by shyh jie at 1:55 AM
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