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New country today!! So today is Cambodia day, the third country on my travels out of ten! I woke up really excited and packed my bag, buzzing about the day ahead, even if the majority of it would be stuck on a bus! Becky and I paid nam tahn the money for the room and gave her a tip. She was a lovely woman and tried to keep us safe constantly by telling us to wear our money belts. She was a lovely lady and we will miss her. We picked up a small bite to eat from ABC bakery and then waited outside panda travel for the bus. It pulled up around 12 and on we went. For the first couple of hours I read the killing fields which was still spurring on my excitement about getting to Cambodia. We drove for some more and I admired the view out the window and reflected on my time in Vietnam. I felt a magnitude of emotions on the bus. Vietnam has been incredible. I spent six weeks there which is a hell of a long time. I thought about crazy Anita, and my hostel chums from Hanoi including aiden, big John from Cali, and the Aussies. I thought about the moment i picked becky up from the airport, our amazing ha long bay trip, biking the hai van pass together, cutting my elbow going down a water slide, vinepearl resort with nick and Jeremy and being suspended in the cable car overlooking the ocean. When I think back to the past 6 weeks I can't think of any lows, there were no bad times. I think having Becky is also a massive contributing factor to how much I loved Vietnam. I'm so attached to the place and I will definitely be back, but now to Cambodia!
We stopped at the Vietnam crossing with the usual lack of any information which is the norm for travellers. There were only Becky me and two other westerners and the rest where Cambodian or Vietnamese on the bus. We sailed through the crossing and then had another hour journey to the Cambodia immigration station. This was slightly more complicated. I handed in my passport, got my picture taken, paid 25 dollars and had my handprints taken. Just as I got back on the bus the computer crashed so the entire bus load was kept waiting. We spent 2 hours on the bus waiting for it to go which was a royal pain in my ass. Finally the stragglers got back on and we were off, officially in Cambodia! It was around half 5 and the sun was setting and I have never seen anything like it. Sunsets are my favourite but this was something else. The sun looked huge and the sky was a mixture of purple blue pink and orange! My camera was locked up in the luggage compartment which was gutting but I managed to get a fairly decent snap on the iphone. I fell asleep while watching the sunset. Next minute I'm waking up as the bus is doing a rocking motion. I was super disorientated then realised the boat was on a ferry. I remember reading in the guidebook about the river so I just went with it! We eventually arrived in Phnom Penh at about 8.30 pm. I went to the cash machine and was really confused when it gave me US dollars. Apparently dollars are widely used here and they will often give you change back in their local currency. I don't really like it because you feel like you are spending more money than in places like Vietnam and china, when you aren't really! After cash we got a tuk tuk to the hostel. A tuk tuk is now the chosen method of transport. Essentially it's a carriage where the passengers sit and it's driven by a motorbike! It was pretty fun and we were charged 2 dollars each to eighty8 hostel.
When I arrived at the hostel the first thing I noticed from outside was the atmosphere. It sounded loud and inviting, which is a nice change especially after me and Becky having a private room for a few nights. The place is incredible. The dorm rooms aren't typical bunk bed dorms, we each have a double bed, 8 double beds in one room!! The lounge area is a massive outdoor space with sofa beds, cushions, bar, pool table and swimming pool. I definitely scored lucky with this place, especially at only 5 bucks a night! Result. We checked our stuff in and chatted to Ben and another Irish guy that we met on the bus. Bed at ten after our crazy country hopping day.
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