Well. Today was quite the adventure. Let me back up. My friend Kia and I are traveling through Asia, so she can get a taste of each city, and accompany me on my birthday. Our travel route takes up through Cambodia, Thailand, down to Krabi, then Malaysia, Singapore, Bali and back to Vietnam.
The cheapest way to venture to Phnom Penh is by bus so we did that, but we also decided to bus it to Bangkok. I did not know at the time of booking that the drive from PP to BKK would be over 12 hours. Being misinformed and not doing my research, we settled on the bus ride regardless. Hey, we get to see the country side right? So the first leg of our race against time was okay. We got to PP in about 6 hours, went to the Russian Market and found our tuk-tuk to take care of us for the whole day in Phnom Penh. Though he was stalking us, found us in the market, (the only bougie black girls bargaining on leggings). I guess he thought we wouldn't pay. I found my Cambodian weaved scarves that I love, and more silk for the women in my family. Also introduced Kia to the Cambodian delicacy of friend rice pancakes with spring onion. I'll have to research the real name for it. We also ventured to the Killing Fields just outside of Phnom Penh. Quite sad and dramatic to know with real evidence that human beings could be so cruel, especially to people of their own culture. We prayed for those people whose lives were taken from them and for the families who were affected. Our day was quite full and we did not make it out to eat or party because of the heavy rain storm. However, jet lag and exhaustion allowed us to sleep through the night.
So now we're at this morning, Tuesday morning, 6:30 AM. After taking breakfast to go from Hotel Cara, we get to the bus station hoping we don't have to settle for a greyhound-like bus for the treacherous 12+ hour drive. . . we are sadly disappointed that not only is the bus greyhound quality, it's packed with people. Great. The ride through Cambodia was filled with frequent random stops to pick up "Slatum" and his crew or drop people off in front of their home. . . I'm sorry, is this the community city bus or a personal tour bus??? Other highlights from the ride: a spider creeping up on me, and bus stops at the creepiest pit stop places with crappy food. The climax was arriving to the Thai border and to our chagrin having to switch vehicles. Now the 9 men and 4 women left going to BKK, are to squeeze into this white cargo van, like an ex-pat circus act, ughhhh. The driver seemed to get a kick out of driving so fast our bodies were thrown about like loose marbles. When we finally get to BKK, to Khao Son Road, the driver would not stop. It took me yelling at him to finally stop because he passed the backpackers "district".
Lesson Learned: do not take a bus from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, just fly, Air Asia is more comfortable
The cheapest way to venture to Phnom Penh is by bus so we did that, but we also decided to bus it to Bangkok. I did not know at the time of booking that the drive from PP to BKK would be over 12 hours. Being misinformed and not doing my research, we settled on the bus ride regardless. Hey, we get to see the country side right? So the first leg of our race against time was okay. We got to PP in about 6 hours, went to the Russian Market and found our tuk-tuk to take care of us for the whole day in Phnom Penh. Though he was stalking us, found us in the market, (the only bougie black girls bargaining on leggings). I guess he thought we wouldn't pay. I found my Cambodian weaved scarves that I love, and more silk for the women in my family. Also introduced Kia to the Cambodian delicacy of friend rice pancakes with spring onion. I'll have to research the real name for it. We also ventured to the Killing Fields just outside of Phnom Penh. Quite sad and dramatic to know with real evidence that human beings could be so cruel, especially to people of their own culture. We prayed for those people whose lives were taken from them and for the families who were affected. Our day was quite full and we did not make it out to eat or party because of the heavy rain storm. However, jet lag and exhaustion allowed us to sleep through the night.
So now we're at this morning, Tuesday morning, 6:30 AM. After taking breakfast to go from Hotel Cara, we get to the bus station hoping we don't have to settle for a greyhound-like bus for the treacherous 12+ hour drive. . . we are sadly disappointed that not only is the bus greyhound quality, it's packed with people. Great. The ride through Cambodia was filled with frequent random stops to pick up "Slatum" and his crew or drop people off in front of their home. . . I'm sorry, is this the community city bus or a personal tour bus??? Other highlights from the ride: a spider creeping up on me, and bus stops at the creepiest pit stop places with crappy food. The climax was arriving to the Thai border and to our chagrin having to switch vehicles. Now the 9 men and 4 women left going to BKK, are to squeeze into this white cargo van, like an ex-pat circus act, ughhhh. The driver seemed to get a kick out of driving so fast our bodies were thrown about like loose marbles. When we finally get to BKK, to Khao Son Road, the driver would not stop. It took me yelling at him to finally stop because he passed the backpackers "district".
Lesson Learned: do not take a bus from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, just fly, Air Asia is more comfortable
sounds fun! i love Bangkok for that one day I went. But I loved ChaingMai the most!
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