Overland Cambodia

11 March

For overland travel in Cambodia, all roads lead to Phnom Penh and so, in order to get to Siem Reap we needed to get to Phnom Penh from Kampot and then take a bus to Siem Reap. We were persuaded by our guesthouse to splurge on a private taxi (Toyota Camry of course) to Phnom Penh as it was a far better option than the slow bus where we'd have to then work out how to get across Phnom Penh to the Siem Reap bus station (no central bus station in Phnom Penh - each company has its own departure point).

For the most part, I kept my eyes fixed on the side window and watched the countryside instead of the way the driver swerved into the path of oncoming trucks. The rutted road combined with maniacal speed made for an excruciating bone-rattling ride. The driver spoke no English whatsoever, which is unusual in Cambodia. Bouncing around wildly in the back seat, I set about trying to learn the Khmer directions to the bus station we needed but, as it happened, I never got to use them. The driver, when we got to Phnom Penh, stopped abruptly and dumped us on the side of the road. We insisted he take us to the bus station but he flatly refused. A group of curious (and opportunistic) tuk tuk and moto drivers gathered. As our driver spoke no English, he would not explain why he would not finish the trip. Fairly pissed off but smiling away like lunatics we negotiated a tuktuk fare to the bus station and then took this out of the fare agreed to be paid to the taxi driver. We paid him the money and he tried to tell us we needed to pay more. Our tuktuk driver, who did speak English, interpreted for him that, as he broke the deal and didn't take us where we needed to go, he can have his fee less what our tuktuk ride will cost. Unimpressed but seeing we would not change our minds he skulked off through the highly amused crowd of Phnom Penh drivers. We lumped our packs onto the tuktuk and beetled through the crud and fumes of central Phnom Penh to the bus office. We got there with just enough time to buy our tickets and visit the toilet or at least I think it was a toilet, bit hard to see through the cloud of flies.

The bus ride to Siem Reap was uneventful - just the usual horn blowing, veering from one side of the road to the other, 5km stretches of gravel road, drowsy cow roadblocks and such. A pleasant enough, if not long (6hr) ride.